America First

Yesterday, President Trump fired a warning at 3M, an iconic American company, once known as Minnesota Manufacturing and Mining. His anger is the result of multiple states reporting that they were unable to buy much-needed face masks for healthcare workers and law enforcement officers from 3M distributors. 

Why? Because they were being outbid by foreign countries. Trump said if 3M is not taking care of American workers first, they "will have a big price to pay." I agree -- they should pay a big price. 

Having said that, the hypocrisy here is voluminous. Many of the media outlets and politicians most upset by the allegations that 3M is not putting America first were furious when Donald Trump ran for president on a platform of "America First." They called him a "fascist" and a "Nazi." 

For decades, the left has taken the side of those in the culture war who mock patriotism and idolize athletes who refuse to stand for the national anthem. Now they're shocked that a corporate executive might internalize that message and think, "America's not special, so why should I put it first?"

There's another irony. As of 2017, 3M had about 80 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and 125 facilities in 37 countries around the world. I doubt very much that the president of this iconic American company thinks of himself as the president of an American company. 

Long before 3M was sending our masks to foreign countries, they were sending our jobs to foreign countries, and that was a life and death decision too. As communities in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas saw their jobs shipped overseas, many families were wrecked and many workers died from "diseases of despair." 

It's too bad that during those years the nightly news broadcasts weren't telling us the numbers of victims who died due to globalism every day. It might have given us a greater sense of urgency about what was happening to Middle America. 

Another Mistake?

Is the CDC making another mistake? When the coronavirus hit the U.S., the CDC was in charge of testing, which was a huge mess that resulted in lost time. In recent weeks, the CDC has been making projections about hospitalizations and deaths that so far appear to be way off. 

For example, modeling by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicted that more than 120,000 Americans would be hospitalized with Covid-19 by Wednesday. The actual number was just over 31,000.

As you may know, the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort docked in New York City on Monday. The president deployed the Comfort because New York leaders were begging for more help and the CDC was predicting horrible hospitalization figures. Curiously, very few patients (perhaps just 20) are currently on board the vessel, which has 1,000 beds. 

In related news, Richard Preston, author of "Hot Zone," was on CNBC this morning. He suggested that Covid-19 was spreading so rapidly in New York City because of how densely populated it is. That certainly makes sense. 

But it would not make sense to base models for the rest of the country on New York City's experience because very few communities in the rest of country are so densely packed. 

The president has been slammed by the left-wing media and politicians for not depending on the experts, i.e. the CDC. This is what they are supposed to know. It appears they have messed up again.

All of this will set off more debate about how much longer we must harm the American economy to save lives when hurting the economy will result in its own death toll. 

What's Essential

Earlier this week, I thanked people who we depend on to see us through this crisis – medical workers, farmers, truck drivers, law enforcement. I neglected to mention some people in another noble category. 

While Planned Parenthood wants to stay open in order to take more innocent lives, many pregnancy resource centers are staying open to save lives. I should have recognized those selfless workers and volunteers who are there every day for the women who choose life.

And as one pregnancy resource center director recently said, "Abortion is far more deadly than the coronavirus." Sadly, she's right as 2,300 unborn children are murdered through abortion every day.

So kudos to the dedicated staff at America's pregnancy resource centers! They are providing a truly essential service to thousands of women and saving lives at the same time.