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Using a Crisis
Kerby Anderson
No doubt you have heard the quote: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” The oft-repeated quote is from Rahm Emanuel, who was President Obama’s Chief of Staff at the time.
Back then, he was talking about the 2008 financial crisis. This time, a number of progressive groups want to use the virus crisis to attack the president and a few Democratic politicians want to use it to promote their progressive agenda.
A Democrat-aligned Super PAC announced it will spend $5 million on negative ads about President Trump’s response to the coronavirus. News reports say that the group is funded by a “liberal dark money group” that will spread misinformation on the president’s crisis response. If the Twitter ad that came out the other day is any indication of what future ads will be like, we can conclude that the word “misinformation” is too soft a term for what we will be seeing and reading.
Meanwhile, politicians have been using the virus crisis to propose various progressive initiatives. Mayor Bill de Blasio has been trying to make the case for a nationalization of crucial industries in this country. Socialists like Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argue that the current health crisis illustrates why we need a single-payer, universal health care program controlled by the federal government.
A mayor in Illinois declared that a coronavirus emergency allowed her to ban the sale of guns. A few members of Congress and some mayors now argue for the commutation of sentences to release prisoners because of the virus crisis. And a few district attorneys have already announced a reduction in arrests for what are termed “low-level, non-violent crimes.”
During the next few months, we will need more discernment than ever, given the fact that these groups and politicians aren’t about to let a crisis go to waste.
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