Covid-19: The Reality Show has taken cable TV by storm. The plot is nominally about a war against an invisible Chinese invader that has already killed over 1,200 Americans. But on another level, it is a family sitcom, a successor to Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to Beaver, and The Cosby Show.
The star is Daddy Donald, a brilliant if erratic father figure, who sometimes rambles on, as fathers are wont to do. He is ably supported by his younger brother, Uncle Mike, who is loyal, steady, competent, and boring. With every strand of his snow-white hair perfectly in place, Uncle Mike always says the right thing. He is as predictable as Donald is unpredictable. Consequently, we pay more attention to Donald, wondering what he will do next. Donald understands this and cultivates his reputation for unpredictability.
After a generation in which males, especially TV fathers, were portrayed as bumbling fools, Donald breaks the stereotype. He is a wartime president who appeals to about half the population, mostly male, as a decisive and creative leader who says what we had been thinking but were afraid to say.
Donald’s co-star is Dr. Deborah Birx, an HIV/AIDS expert from the State Department who was brought in to coordinate the federal government’s response to the coronavirus.
Dr. Birx exudes competence, as well as sensitivity, which is a rare combination. She has never heard a question, no matter how vapid, that wasn’t “a very good question,” as far as she was concerned. She teaches her children patiently and sincerely in words that they can understand, but respectfully, without talking down to them. She is the empathetic mother figure who calms the situation and holds the family together.
Behind every successful man there is at least one very intelligent woman, and often more — and a man wise enough to listen to them. Dr. Birx doesn’t steal the show, but she could.
Then there is her problematic older brother, Uncle Anthony. His problem is that he did too well in school and never got over it. He was once Dr. Birx’s mentor but she has now surpassed him in people skills. Unlike Anthony, she would never say in an interview that she wanted to push Donald aside at the microphone or cover her face in public when he made a wisecrack about the “deep State Department.”
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See Also:
(1) Conservatism in the Time of Coronavirus
(2) What The Media Isn’t Telling You About The United States’ Coronavirus Case Numbers
(3) We’ve been had, and Trump knows it
(5) Biden’s Wuhan Virus Advisor Attacks Trump’s Response, Gets Busted Big Time
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