Coronavirus and Cognitive Dissonance

Most of us by now know the warning signs. A spiking temperature. The raspy cough. Shortness of breath. Then there's the piercing headaches many American "progressives" experience as they sort through a cacophony of contradictory words, thoughts and emotions related to the coronavirus outbreak. These bouts of cognitive dissonance aren't mentioned in any of the CDC medical bulletins I've seen. However, I find the evidence for a link between COVID19 and liberal cognitive dissonance compelling, even if it's anecdotal at this point.

For instance, liberals who once darkly warned of Trump's autocratic and fascistic tendencies now complain that he hasn't been dictatorial enough in confronting the coronavirus crisis, as Rich Lowry points out. And meanwhile, in another brain-straining twist, you have liberal Trump-bashers laying the foundations for martial law and behaving very much like, well, fascists.

Crisis is also exposing the hollowness,  hypocrisy and cynicism of the left's feigned recent rediscovery of federalism, after decades of systematically concentrating unparalleled powers in the federal government. Democrat-dominated states that once blithely and cheerfully surrendered their powers and prerogatives to Washington suddenly grew rebellious after Trump was sworn in. The big bullies in Washington weren't gonna boss-around these states anymore. They were determined to set their own regulatory standards, selectively enforce federal law, and even go their own way on matters of foreign policy. 

But what a change crisis can bring. Suddenly, these same states are looking to the federal government for action, answers, resources and "leadership," leading to this dust-up between President Trump and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over who is or isn't meeting their responsibilities as the crisis unfolds.    

All the President did on this call, from what I can tell, was encourage governors to take the initiative in terms of rounding up extra medical supplies and equipment, rather than waiting for a hidebound and sclerotic federal government to come to the rescue (my words, not his). Are states to just sit around and wait for federal helicopters to deliver stockpiled surplus respirators to emergency room doors? Or do states have an obligation to be creative, resourceful and proactive in addressing such problems themselves, if they possible can? Trump's suggestion that states had such an obligation reportedly angered and frustrated some governors, including those governors, like Cuomo, who have been leading the anti-Washington rebellion in recent years. 

Some of these indignant governors have operated in open defiance of the federal government during the Trump years. They've refused to enforce federal immigration law and engaged in secessionist-sounding actions and rhetoric. But now, suddenly, when the chips are down, they strike the pose of helpless children who can't function in a crisis without Uncle Sam's (and Uncle Donald's) guiding hand? 

The fauxneofederalists have talked a good game in the Trump era, about how they won't be pushed around or dictated-to by this Republican President. They've adopted the sort of militant states' rights rhetoric one long associated with the right rather than the left. But confront them with a little adversity, push them to show genuine initiative and take actual responsibility, and they default to the whiny, Washington-worshipping statists they've always been.

Liberal cognitive dissonance may not be among the coronavirus symptoms you'll find listed in the medical literature. But there can be little doubt, based on a mountain of anecdotal evidence, that such a link in fact exists. And only time will tell whether a vaccine or a cure can be found.