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On Sunday, June 14, I took advantage of the nice weather and rode the North and South County and Putnam Country bike trails. The South Trail starts in Yonkers and the Putnam trail ends in Brewster. It is a short drive to get to and there is ample parking along the route. I would recommend the North County and Putnam County parts of the path, since it’s newly paved and has nicer scenery. While I was in the middle of my bike ride, I saw two teenagers walking, one of whom was carrying a sign stating, “Black Lives Matter.” A few hours later in Carmel, New York, I heard the song “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and saw a small group protesting. “Blowin’ in the Wind” was written and sung by Bob Dylan aka Robert Zimmerman in 1963. The song was made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary. It’s the 1960s all over again.

Both Republican and Democratic state governors have seen their approval ratings increase significantly since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, in contrast to the president, who has had a small bump up. Why are the governors’ responses to the virus so popular and why is Trump’s so low?  As Moshe Hill noted in last week’s QJL, Trump has had “his ups and downs” and Cuomo has made mistakes. It is easy to blame the media; namely, they have had favorable coverage toward the governors and negative toward Trump. However, I believe that there are other factors causing this dichotomy. A person should ask themselves how they would have approached the government’s response to the virus. Would they have taken Trump’s approach or the popular governors’ approach in their tone and messaging?

Since mid-March, the country has been focused on COVID-19. On May 27, 2020, the United States reached the milestone of 100,000 deaths. The health experts were repeatedly advising people of the importance of social distancing and wearing a face mask. There was public shaming of events such as the pool party in the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, where groups of people congregated in tight quarters. One of the arguments was that it was unfair to others, especially the elderly and healthcare workers, if people are not careful. One TV station would daily display on the screen the number of deaths and COVID cases in the United States and worldwide. The president was getting hammered for his response. He was trying anything he could to get COVID-19 off the front pages. Nothing worked.

President Trump, like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has opposed any additional funding to blue states, which includes New York, beyond reimbursement for COVID-19 expenses.

It says in Ethics of Our Fathers (Chapter 3 Mishnah 2), “Pray for the welfare of the government because if people do not fear it, a person would swallow his fellow alive.”

On April 18 and 19, a mass shooting occurred in Nova Scotia when a lone gunman killed 22 people. On May 1, Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau issued an executive order: “Effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country.” This ban covers 1,500 models and variants of assault-type weapons. Included on the list is the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, used by the gunman who killed 50 people in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, and in other mass shootings in the United States, including the Sandy Hook and Las Vegas massacres.