2020—Year of the "trump"

On this last day of 2020, I think it's fair to say this has been "the year of the trump." No ... I don't mean Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, who will be leaving office in just about three weeks. I mean trump, which according to one on-line dictionary means:

trump  /trəmp/ —verb  def. "to outrank or defeat someone or something, often in a highly public way."

Let's take a look at 2020—the year of the trump— first, through the lens of the pandemic:

• Appeals to the authority of "experts" trumped common sense and past experience, even though the "experts" were consistently wrong in their models, their predictions (e.g., no vaccine until late in 2021, at best), and their proposed policies.
• Media propaganda trumped honest, context-based reporting, leading to fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) among a significant percentage of the public.
• Media bias trumped journalistic ethics, meaning that any pandemic-related news that would hurt a hated president was dishonestly amplified while news that might help him was relegated to metaphorical page 37 or omitted altogether.
• Claims of "following the science" trumped actual peer reviewed science resulting in unnecessary and ineffective strategies like city/state lockdowns, closing of schools, and wearing of masks in outdoor settings. Each of these has been shown to be ineffective in stopping the virus and worse, often does far more harm that good.
• Team Apocalypse trumped Team Reality and therefore ...
• Hysteria trumped a calm, reasoned assessment of the threat of COVID-19, leading to ridiculous, illogical, and damaging policies at the state and local levels.

On a more pandemic-positive note:

• Across the country. Red state governance trumped Blue state governance in its effectiveness against the virus. In red states, recognition that a pandemic is NOT sufficient cause to abridge our fundamental rights as citizens was common.
• An administration-sponsored public/private partnership trumped the experts' negative predictions and developed a vaccine in record time, potentially providing a path out of the Alice in Wonderland world of COVID-19. 

On the political front:

• The arbitrary policies of big tech social media companies trumped uncensored information distribution, deciding which stories to suppress, what claims to delegitimize, and who to support and who to de-platform.
• Media bias trumped journalistic ethics, leading to the suppression of any story that might hurt their favored presidential candidate (i.e., Joe Biden).
• Silence and disinterest among supposed investigative media sources trumped dozens, if not hundreds of voting anomalies that were uncovered during and after election day (nothing to see there, move along).
• The leftist narrative trumped free speech, leading to censorship on social media and the  silencing of conservative voices in academia and entertainment.
• The establishment and elites trumped the populist movement, a harbinger of a return to the big government swamp that is Washington, DC.
• Decades-long democrat governance in blue cities trumped common sense and the public good, leading to covidiocy (e.g., ineffective lockdowns), capitulation to leftist mobs (think: Portland), anti-police rhetoric that contributed to skyrocketing crime figures, high taxes that are driving people and businesses away, and a degraded quality of life.

2020 has been a difficult year for many and a disastrous year for those who have become caught up in the petty dictates of blue state governors and mayors. Surely, people who have lost their livelihoods and businesses and incurred debt that may ultimately lead to bankruptcy will be happy to see the year pass into the record books.

Let's hope that in 2021, rational thinking, solid, effective policies, and calm, determined leadership return and trump the hysteria-driven policies of 2020. If those policies are permitted to continue, our social fabric will fray, then tear. I'm hopeful that doesn't happen, but I have little faith that the new president and his team are up the the difficult task of prevailed over the those who currently control the narrative. 

Despite it all, smiles should trump frowns. Happy New Year!