We Got 99 Problems, And Hantavirus Is Just One!

We watch the Sunday shows, so you never have to.

Time, flat circle, yadda yadda.

It seems once again we are doomed to repeat history just within our lifetime. Some of us can’t even enjoy a proper midlife crisis because we’re too busy dealing with another unnecessary Middle East war, another pending economic collapse, and, now, a possible new pandemic!

Let’s dive into the Sunday shows and see how many lessons we never learned.

Jay Bhattacharya

We begin on CNN’s State Of The Union with Jake Tapper interviewing National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya.

But Bhattacharya did not exactly inspire confidence in the possible response to another possible pandemic as he stammered through basic questions from Tapper.

TAPPER: Well, unlike all the precautions we're seeing this morning, a few weeks ago, when these seven people flew home, they flew home with lots of other passengers. Has there been an effort to do contact tracing and let those other passengers know who interacted with those seven?

BHATTACHARYA: So, those passengers — those those passengers on the ship that flew home were not symptomatic when they flew home. So the cont — the — because the virus doesn't spread unless somebody has active symptoms, those passengers on the planes are considered contacts of contacts. So, again, there's not — not — not a reason to do that kind of like, you know, sort of recursive contact tracing. The idea is that you assess the risk of the pay — the person who has been exposed. If — If they don't have symptoms, they're not at risk of — of exposing others. But, um, you do want to make sure that you check them regularly, so that they don't have — if they — if they — if they develop symptoms or if there's other — other considerations, gi — give them advice especially to — to — to, ah, if they’re — if they are — a — to reduce their contacts with others — others when it's appropriate to do so.

This transcription does not properly convey the stammering and flop sweat Jay Bhattacharya displayed if you watch the clip above.

Tapper also asked about rumors of Trump wanting to fire the FDA Administrator and Fred Armisen impersonator, Dr. Marty Makary. While Bhattacharya said some nice words and denied hearing it firsthand, we suggest marking him down as a possible next elimination in Trump’s reality show Cabinet. But the response so far by NIH and the possible replacement of the FDA Administrator at this very moment is very worrisome and concerning … before you remember who’s president, what they did during the last pandemic, and that our country’s health response now is being overseen by the Kennedy who eats what he kills with his vehicle like some sci-fi necromonger.

Personally, we’re gonna go look up everything on hantavirus and see if we can invest in hand sanitizer manufacturing stocks now.

Chris Wright

Over on NBC’s Meet The Press, host Kristen Welker interviewed (Low) Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Welker asked Wright if Trump had received the anticipated response from Iran to his latest proposal to end the war that Trump/Netanyahu stumblefucked us into.

WRIGHT: I don’t think we’ve heard a clear resolution from Iran yet. Given the state of the government in Iran, things just move slowly. Communications are difficult; there are multiple factions. This is a regime under serious stress.

They’re ghosting Trump.

How do we know? Just a small feeling we get.

We’ve all been ghosted, Donnie, but this is ‘leaving too many voicemails’ pathetic.

Wright was also asked about a statement he previously made regarding gas prices and when we could expect them to (please) go back down.

WELKER: Do you think it’s still very possible that gas prices will dip below $3 a gallon in time for summer, which is about six weeks?

WRIGHT: I can’t make any predictions about, you know, oil prices or gasoline prices.

Welker tried again to get an answer.

WELKER: Just to go back to this central question, though, do you anticipate gas prices will drop below $3 a gallon this year?

WRIGHT: I can’t make predictions about that.

Welker tried a third time to get an answer by even rephrasing.

WELKER: Should Americans be prepared for the possibility of paying $5 a gallon for gas?

WRIGHT: Look, again, I can’t predict the price of energy in the short-term or even the medium-term […]

We think the non-answer is the answer.

Kristen Welker seemed to sense this, too.

WELKER: I know you’re saying you can’t predict how high gas prices will go, but I don’t hear you ruling out the possibility that they could in fact go to $5 a gallon.

WRIGHT: Well, I’m just avoiding price predictions. But I will say the United States is in a tremendous position.

Is it?! Because right now, it looks like all of our future hand sanitizer investment windfalls might have to pay to fill up our cars!

Welker didn’t seem to buy this, as she brought up states suspending gas taxes and the head of the International Energy Agency stating the severe harm to oil-producing facilities. After asking Wright, and him being evasive, who controls the Strait of Hormuz, Welker asked a very logical question.

WELKER: Why didn’t the U.S. secure the Strait of Hormuz when the war first began in February?

WRIGHT: It’s about focus. It’s about focus. […] We challenged the long-term things first.

Are you “focusing on the long-term things first”? Really??!

Because every time the president shows what he’s focusing on, it’s his beloved ballroom and his gaudy reflecting pool “renovation.”

To us, it seems that if the hantavirus doesn’t get us, the future economic and military collapse will.

Have a week.

Follow Michael Mora on Threads, occasionally on Bluesky (and if you are still on Twitter, I’m also HERE).

You can subscribe to Michael Mora’s Substack, The Diasporican Writer, for additional thoughts and topics!