With some exceptions, the Idiot Left has howled about President Trump's handling of the "Kung Flu." As if they'd have done anything differently. They're howling only because it's Donald Trump, not because there's anything wrong with his judgment or his timing. A reporter asks an obvious troll question, Trump shuts him down, and the media scream in agony.

Agonize, baby, agonize.

When Trump shut off travel from China at the end of January, the left as usual leapt to slash his throat. Then it turned out he had done the best possible thing at the best possible time. Now leftists are screaming about shortages of masks, test kits, and so on, as if Hillary or Obama or Biden or Liz or Kamala or Buttigieg or Mini Mike would have anticipated all these things. Nobody would have (or could have) anticipated any better than this administration did.

Until we know more about this virus, anticipating it isn't even possible. From all I've read — and that's been a great deal in the last week or so — the Chinese (both in China and in northern Italy) are especially vulnerable to the virus because their personal hygiene is just awful. Human feces pretty much everywhere, unsanitary food preparation in restaurants, sneezing and coughing on others, etc. These practices aren't the norm in America, and that alone will go far in arresting the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.

Because of that, and because of our better health system, I expect the pandemic here to be relatively mild. Obama holdover Andy Slavitt thinks it's already too late to prevent over a million American deaths. One is reminded of perpetual alarmist Paul Ehrlich of The Population Bomb fame 50 years ago. I think Slavitt's just trying to score political points, as is the wont of the prior administration. There was a time when it was possible to believe that everybody wished the president well, regardless of party, because if he did well, it meant America did well. Those innocent days (if they ever existed) are long gone. In any case, Slavitt's million deaths just don't seem likely.

Meanwhile, very real damage is being done to the economy. It won't be long until people who didn't plan ahead will be running out of food at home. With no work, they'll have no money to buy more. That is the point at which things will really get dicey. The president's plan to send out checks to Americans is the response. That will work for a (short) while before becoming serious. Trump is counting on the flu burning out before long. I think he's right.

Because of that, my thinking, which I expect to draw slings and arrows from near and far, is that self-quarantining should be voluntary, work closures should be voluntary, and we should slog through this pandemic the way we did the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic eleven years ago. That flu killed about 12,500 Americans, but we heard almost nothing about it because the media that detest Trump loved Obama. People stayed at work, the economy did not take a flu hit, and the pandemic quietly passed.

That should be our model today. People will die, but people always die in pandemics and will die no matter what we do. The thing is that it's virtually impossible for this one to just burn out with the media so determined to hang the president. Nobody has advanced any ideas that promise quicker or better solutions than what the administration has put forth. The private sector has geared up and soon we will have millions of test kits, face masks, and palliatives. By then, hopefully, the panic will have run its course, and the economy will recover.

It would happen more quickly and less painfully if the media behaved responsibly rather than destructively. Sadly, we can't count on the mainstream media to act patriotically or even just considerately. It's they who are stirring up anger, fear and hysteria over this flu.

Image credit: Pixabay public domain.