Short Pandemic Note #15: “How Is Mike?”
On March 26, 2020, the great leader came before his subjects to report on the excellent job he is doing managing the life or death fight Americans face against Covid-19. An enterprising reporter for Bloomberg received permission to ask him a question.
Before the young African American could get his question out of his mouth, the leader inquired where did he work.
“Bloomberg,” the young scribe answered. Then proceeded to ask his question of interest to Bloomberg’s readers on the status of the Coronavirus pandemic. He was interrupted again by the leader who inquired with a smirk on his face: “How is Mike?”
His question is an apparent reference to Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg owns Bloomberg News and is a failed candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President. In six weeks this year, Bloomberg spent billions of his dollars telling Democratic voters that he alone could defeat the Republican President.
In the middle of a pandemic, the leader embued with impeccable timing, paused to toss a jab at a vanquish political foe.
Next, the leader took pride in calling out a governor without mentioning the governor’s name. The governor had spoken up during a meeting the leader had with the nation’s governors. The leader found the advocacy of this governor rather irksome.
“There was one person, a little bit raising of her voice, a little wise guy, usually a big wise guy, but not so much anymore. We made sure to it that he wouldn’t be anymore,” the prominent leader said. In essence, another critic defeated thoroughly, and a state not likely to get the federal help its need to combat the Coronavirus hitting its borders.
“Hi, my name is Gretchen Whitmer, and that governor is me I’ve asked repeatedly and respectfully for help. We need it: no more political attacks, just PPEs, ventilators, N95 masks, test kits. You said you stand with Michigan — prove it,” Governor Whitmer tweeted after the leader called her out during his daily press briefing/campaign rally.
Meanwhile, the number of cases in the US moved ahead of the total number of cases in Italy.
Harold Michael Harvey is the author of Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance. He is a Past President of the Gate City Bar Association. He is the recipient of Gate City’s R. E. Thomas Civil Rights Award, which he received for his pro bono representation of Black college students arrested during Freaknik celebrations in the mid to late 1990s. An avid public speaker, contact him at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com.
