The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.” —author Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)

Food for thought: “BTW, great call on that 20 year campaign to promote high density urban living and public transportation, smart people.” —David Burge

Observations: “Trump [Wednesday] night said, ‘This is a major government response to the foreign virus,’ and this immediately lead people in the media to whine about the fact that Trump said that the Wuhan virus is a foreign virus. … Why is that a problem? Is that an element of xenophobia? Seriously? This is what you’re focused on … that Trump points out that another major virus comes from China and that maybe this will have implications on U.S. policy and yet your initial takeaway is, ‘That’s Trump being a racist against Chinese people’? That’s really where you’re going with this?” —Ben Shapiro

Upright: “The President can fly Air Force One over major cities and dump freshly printed hundred dollar bills out of the belly of the plane, but if people think they’re going to get the coronavirus, they still are not going to take that cash and go shop, eat out or mingle in large crowds. They won’t even go to the bank to deposit it. They will, like with the toilet paper, simply stockpile it till the crisis is over. Before any stimulus can work, the public must trust the health care response. … Unfortunately for all of us, there is a bipartisan problem in Washington. Both sides have ‘electionitis,’ and the only cure is denying the other side any sort of public successes in order to beat them in November. It is not yet known how many Americans will die in the process.” —columnist Erick Erickson

Non compos mentis I: “You know, since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have seen not only the spreading of the virus but also a rapid spreading of racism and xenophobia.” —Rep. Ayanna Pressley

Non compos mentis II: “Labeling COVID-19 a ‘foreign virus’ does not display accountability for the misjudgments that have taken thus far by the Trump administration.” —Joe Biden

Grand delusions: “I get the sense that this is not only the low point of the Trump presidency but the low point of the American presidency ever. Has any president ever been this overmatched by a crisis?” —columnist David Brooks

And last… “This started in China, has become a global crisis. They stifled the flow of information. Lied. Stopped doctors and health experts from talking about it. They weren’t transparent and still aren’t. This is their Chernobyl. They deserve massive blame and should get it.” —Matt Walsh