Corona Heroes and Less-Than-Heroes

Tom discusses some of the heroes in the fight against the Corona virus, as well as some of the more bizarre moves by public officials.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I heard Radio presents Tom Broke off now here this
Do you need an inspiration? And don't we all during
this very difficult time? Well? Eric Larson's hot new bestseller,
The Splendid and the While is the book to turn to.
It is about Winston Churchill's first year as Prime Minister,

(00:21):
just when Nazi Germany, led by Helper and going so
they could conquer Great Britain from the air with bombing raids.
Night after night, bombs railed down on London as the
brave Great Britain pilots met them in their spitfires out
over the English Channel and over the land as well.
The British citizens ran to subway shelters or ancient churches.

(00:43):
Many were killed, but with a new day they were
back cleaning up, preparing for more war. Inspired by Churchill,
who said, we shall fight them on the beaches, we
shall fight them on the landing grounds, we shall fight
them in the fields. We shall never give up, he
transformed the English language into a fighting force, the greatest

(01:05):
orator of our time. President Trump, on the other hand,
seemed to transform the English language into a rambling exercise
and narcissism. Everyone in Great Britain was involved. The King
and Queen were out on the streets the next day,
despite the fact that they nearly died an attack on
their castle. The taxi drivers were out as well the bicyclists.

(01:27):
More than forty thousand Londoners were killed during the blitz.
Edward R. Murrow of the United States became a legendary
broadcast journalist when he went to the rooftop with his
tape recorder and recorded the incoming bombers and gave a
very calm narration. He then took his microphone and put
it at street level so everyone could hear the unhurried

(01:51):
gait of the Londoners trying to go down into the
subway system to find shelter. Churchill was out inspecting the language,
speaking with his constituents, and going back to his hideaway
place to plan the next phase in the war. New
York is under a different kind of assault, obviously, but
it too is showing uncommon bravery. Fireman and policeman saluting

(02:15):
the workers. Food kitchens are popping up under the appropriate
rules for making sure that the food is okay. There's
no structural damage in New York, but it is more
grievously wounded than it was in nine eleven. Many more
people were killed here just this spring than on nine eleven.
Across the river and New Jersey, the same story, and

(02:37):
around the country in San Francisco, in Los Angeles, in Chicago.
The biggest cities are hardest hit me because they're so compacted,
but now rural areas are being hit as well. Some
leaders have been magnificent, but the governor of my home
state of South Dakota, Christianome, has been I guess the

(02:57):
best word is bizarre. A pork processing plan and Sioux
Falls has five hundred workers who tested positive, and yet
she refused to issue a stay at home order, even
though experts saw the five number as a burning fuse.
How long would it be before it spills out of
that pork processing plant throughout the city of Sioux Falls,

(03:20):
which is in fact the largest city in the state
and one of the jewels of the Midwest. Talk of
leveling off and Trump eager to start if the economy
is out there again, is like a power more that
ran out of gas and it just needs to refuel. Huh,
That's not quite the case. We have lots of damage, physical, psychic,

(03:45):
and of course human damage. The deaths, the holes in
our systems, the damage to our economy. Nine eleven was
confined to New York. It was a military problem. Not this.
This is unseen and resilient vaccine. Not for another year

(04:06):
at least. We're in danger for day by day at
least for another year. And this will change us, will
be more worry, will elevate the best people, I hope
to a cabinet level, And those are the epidemiologists who
saw this coming and will be the early alert system

(04:27):
for other attacks. And they are sure to come because
it is a changing climate, with more people on this planet,
more heat, more transfer of people from one place to another,
and we have to pay attention. Mr President. Just a
suggestion if you will appear only when you have real,

(04:49):
actionable news, not just when you think you need to
appear before the cameras again, because it's your turn, and
for all of your retro accounts of action, there were
weeks when you didn't take this seriously enough. It's on
the record. Be inclined to say, Look, I wasn't quick
enough off the mark. Now I get it, and I'm

(05:09):
bringing the best team that you can imagine onto the game.
And they're gonna be Democrats as well as Republicans, but
mostly they're going to be specialists. Finally, I'm going to
listen more, I'm going to talk less. I'm gonna be
in touch with the very best people, including the opposition.
We'll get through this, but we have miles ago and

(05:32):
it will depend on the best efforts of all of us.
How much damage we cannot yet say. We'll know more
in six months, but we are a strong, rich, resilient country.
We can come back, but we have to do it
in a way that we all understand that we have
a role in all of this, and it may be

(05:52):
a different country. We're gonna have to pay more attention
to this kind of a threat in the future. We're
gonna have to establish across the country those instant response
places where you can get a ventilator, where you can
get the kind of help that the hospitals are now
able to provide, primarily in the big city countries. Folks,
this is our future. Science is not wishful thinking. We're

(06:15):
a changed country, We're a changed people. Were a change globe,
and it will require the best efforts, the best imagination,
and the best commitment of all of us. We're up
to it. We've been through it before, and history will
be looking to us to see how we met what
turned out to be an extraordinarily unexpected challenge to the

(06:39):
future of mankind. We now know what our responsibility is.
Let's get on with it. I'm Tom Broke off our
I Heart Radio now Here. This