5/31/25

TRUMPISM & ITS ABSURDITIES: 
* Should we save the ostriches, but not the people? 
* Can a ‘big magnificent, free airplane’ be too big?
* What good is health care if we all die, anyway?

IN THE CRUSADE to confront the evil Donald Trump is inflicting upon the country, it is useful to recognize how often the daily assaults of terror and cruelty are also silly and absurd.
     I don’t mean to suggest that Trump’s attacks aren’t consequential, because the harm is real. Our lives, and those of our neighbors, are at constant risk because of Trump’s mischief.
     But acknowledging the absurdity that undergirds much of what Trump and the Republicans do exposes the flaws in the Trumpian schemes, making them manageable and remedial.

SAVE THE OSTRICHES; BUT THE FOLKS?
     Flightless, with long spindly necks and longish twin legs, ostriches are said to the earth’s largest birds and the fastest on land, achieving speeds of more than 40-miles-per-hour.
     But being birds, they are also susceptible to bird flu, and 300 of them are on a death watch at a farm in British Columbia, part of a Canadian government program to curb spread of the virus.
     Enter the birds’ would-be rescuers, two of the Trump administration’s top health officials: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
     Kennedy and Oz have proposed saving the birds, with one option, bringing them to the United States, where Oz has offered lodgings on his ranch in Florida.
     You heard this right. 
     As concern grows about the spread of bird flu, not only among livestock, but crossing over to humans, the nation’s leading health “experts” are proposing to keep potentially sick Canadian birds alive – and importing them to the U.S.
     It's not certain that the ostriches in question have the virus – although nearly 70 similar birds at the farm have died from the flu, hence the order to kill the rest.
     Kennedy wrote to the Canadian government asking officials to reconsider; Oz told the New York Post that he and Kennedy are “sticking our necks out” for the birds, saying “it doesn’t help anyone to kill the birds.”
     What about another species?
     It is not a stretch to ask whether the compassion Kennedy is showing to the birds in Canada extends to the humans he supposed to protect in his day job in the U.S.
     Earlier this week, Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services canceled a contract meant to protect the U.S. population against bird flu.
     The $600 million contract was to have financed development of a bird flu vaccine by the Moderna drug company, using technology the firm used in its successful Covid vaccine program.
     The deal was part of a plan to react to a potential bird flu pandemic, should one develop, with the government able to purchases vaccines ahead of time.
     Kennedy, famously skeptical of vaccines, has questioned Moderna technology in developing vaccines.
     Thus, the secretary’s two-pronged program:
     Bring ostriches, which might carry bird flu, to the United States. 
     Cancels steps that might protect human beings should a bird flu pandemic develop.
     Save the ostriches. But the people…? 
* * *

CAN ANYTHING BE TOO BIG?
     “Frankly, it’s much too big.”
     Who said that?
     Was it a Democrat, questioning Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” which is rolling through Congress, threatening healthcare for millions of Americans, but promising tax cuts benefiting the wealthy?
     Nope.
     It was Trump.
     He was lamenting the size of the controversial jet which the government of Qatar is trying to give to the United States, and which might later end up in Trump’s presidential library.
     Trump has been wildly enthusiastic about the Boeing 747-8, despite all sorts of ethical alarms raised by the deal, in which the plane would be converted into an official Air Force One carrier of presidents.
     It’s a “beautiful, big magnificent, free airplane for the United States Air Force,” Trump gushed.
     But could the jet be too big, even for Trump?
     Measuring 18-feet longer than current pair of Air Force One’s, the jetliner suddenly seeming a little biggish for the commander in chief for whom size matters
     Indeed, Trump was sounding a little ungrateful, should we say even peevish?
     Or, maybe he was realizing that the sheer size of the plane made it impractical for a post-presidency passenger.
     Trump “clarified” the matter as only he can, musing at midweek: 
     “They tried to say: “’Oh, it’s Trump’s airplane.’ Oh, yeah, sure. It’s too big, frankly, it’s much too big.”
     Whatever that means.
     As of this writing (with Trump, any story is ever-shifting and never finished), the deal had not yet been finalized, as the administration fussed over the legal details.
     There are problems aplenty with the Qatar airship. For one thing, it hasn’t been well maintained; and it could take years to convert into a true Air Force One – which has been Trump’s hope, since he’s impatient to find a replacement for the current set of planes.
     So whether he’s souring on the gift; or trying to deflect the ethics issues, who knows?
      But as of now: “It’s too big, frankly, it’s much too big.”
* * *

TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH; AND CERTAIN DEATH
     “We all are going to die.”
     Yes, it’s a fact.
     But is the inevitability of death a good defense Republicans can use to explain away the possibility that 10 million people could lose their government health coverage?
     Sen. Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa gave the idea a test run last Friday during one of those fraught “town hall” meetings that politicians, especially Republicans, have been warned against holding with constituents.
     The “conversation” at this Butler County forum turned to the mega-bill in which Republicans are planning to drive millions off the Medicaid roles to save money that can be used to lower taxes for the rich.
     Someone in the audience shouted that the impact of service cuts could be dire:
     “People are going to die.”
     To which Senator Ernst retorted:
     “Well, we all are going to die.”
     The comment drew loud disapproval from the audience.
     “For heaven’s sakes, folks,” Ernst said.
     Maybe it wasn’t best idea to mention heaven, either.

* * *
The following links are to articles used as source material for this piece:

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/28/rfk-jr-oz-canadian-ostriches-avian-flu

 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/health/us-cancels-contract-with-moderna-to-develop-bird-flu-vaccine.html

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/28/trump-qatar-plane-gift-boeing

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/28/trump-qatar-air-force-one/

 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/us/politics/medicaid-cuts-joni-ernst-iowa-town-hall.html