Anything that is strange or foreign towards inherent superiority, political adaptive terms one learns through the years

 In the Asian culture, anything that is strange or foreign is actually very educational and for some even privilege as it means you get to meet or experience something from the ordinary upbringing or culture, Yet, as the most talked about term nowadays, Xenophobia is “fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.”  This where the cultures divide the definition as explained by Merriam and Webster  I Started with this remembering my years both the global community that you meet various people from the public and private sectors from different cultures and countries,

One of the things I've learned is to carefully listened to touchy questions when it pertains to race related issues, have them repeat it in case it wasn't clear. This is especially true if your in a position that can influence a lot of issues. Hence is what happened in today's Asian American Violence in the United States implied simply from the words implied from the words of it's former 45th President.

America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States

America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States Hardcover – November 26, 2019 by Erika Lee (Author) An award-winning historian reframes our continuing debate over immigration with a compelling history of xenophobia in the United States and its devastating impact The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. In America for Americans, Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era. Benjamin Franklin ridiculed Germans for their "strange and foreign ways." Americans' anxiety over Irish Catholics turned xenophobia into a national political movement. Chinese immigrants were excluded, Japanese incarcerated, and Mexicans deported. 

Lee writes, “Asian immigrants, once so despised that they had been largely excluded from the United States, were slowly being remade into supposed ‘model minorities,’ racial minorities who worked hard to overcome obstacles and achieve the American dream .. displaying the attributes most prized by American capitalism and its emphasis on achievement”. The model minority myth advanced a racist/xenophobic attribution of Asian success to a combination of their upbringing and genetics.

Former President Donald Trump, had repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the "China virus," among other offensive terms, during his presidency, the recent events in Atlanta, GA cause the lives of 8 people where 6 of them where Asian American women.  The Stop AAPI Hate Coalition received nearly 3,800 hate incidents from March 19 to Feb 28 of this year. Among them were 68% women victims as target according to ABC news.  Asian Women, the elderly, from San Francisco, New York abuse and violence have spike tremendously this year. 

For now the Asian American community is grieving the lives lost in the shooting with the hope for a better tomorrow.

Realities of Covid 19 Today Pre-Vaccine Amidst Testing and Common Laymen Infection

 One of the things that I personally can compare is the experience of being involved in public policy then closed to the pillars of government then back to private life. Moreover, the travails of living the challenges of life with limited resources, income, disability and now middle age life.

The last few months of this pandemic in the West had my own, my family, friends and saw other people lives change drastically. Some of these changes unfortunately has forever changed people lives and sadly I can count the number of friends and acquaintances that were lost directly or indirectly related due to this in these last months.

Let me start in March, my 91 year old US Army World War II Filipino Veteran father  recovering from a Heart Surgery at the VA hospital for a while was suddenly threatened be discharged even if did not agree a the hospital's administration need's to make room for the influx of Covid-19 veteran patients. The explanation was my father was susceptible to be infected. But they were prepared let a 91 year old heart patient with a pacemaker, stage 2 chronic liver disease, gout, hypertension, Alzheimer's loose to a nursing facility where the covid-19 is death trap. Anyway, I'm not going to make a long story on this. My father was tested Covid-19 negative on March 31 and he was transferred to Contra Costa, CA in a Nursing facility on April 1 and on August25 was infected with Covid-19 with other residents from a staff outbreak. This is one example of the scenario of how this pandemic has been handled from early on in the absence of no guidance.  As you can see how the specifics of he demographics in this case.

In June to July regardless how much you try to go online for example and try to get a city testing online in California it was impossible unless you answered you exhibited one of the symptoms of Covid-19. As we also, once you get tested the other issue was the back log on getting the results will take days or even weeks which takes the test useless. If you come to think of if even you get tested but you are exposed on daily basis to unknown individuals you really never know unless you are regularly tested.

Although it's a good thing that there are more places doing Rapid Testing today and Antigen testing there are still challenges. The CDC 2 days change their guidelines again about having anyone get tested if they exposed to those asymptomatic individuals. I'll give one example, On a visit to a testing site, there were a family of family of 5 from El Salvador. The people doing registration had N95 mask and gloves but no body PPE were taking ID's and Insurance cards. After which they go to the next area for the tester who takes the swabs who had the the complete PPE from mask, gloves and body,  After 45 minutes the 5 individuals goes back to the testers and given the information they are Covid-19 positive. So going back to the individuals that took the registration, was the CDC guideline necessary?

The other issue is happening is on this testing is various realities. These 5 individuals live in 2 bedroom apartment together. The mother did not almost take the test as she did not have ID and insurance. We all know this opens up another issue. But for the purposes this pandemic discussion, without the credentials needed you need at least $150  get the Covid-19 Rapid test

200,000 Americans now dead from Covid-19, The Honorable Ruth Ginsberg just passed yesterday, with the flu around the fall, the best would be time to get your flu shot. Anyone with pre-existing conditions like myself have the fear on this Covid-19 and we never what can happen. Do I want a vaccine? Of course, but it has be not misleading like what when they told my father he can infected when the patients starts to come in when after all they only admitted less than 10 when when got rid of him.

Ignorance, Deceit, Misinformation and Psychology as In The Room Where it Happened

The floundering America's 45th President brags on the first most important step he did in response to the COVID-19 response was that he closed the borders from China arrivals. A perfect answer to his loyal base. 

This base as written right after November 2016 elections,  "Donald Trump always enjoyed massive support from uneducated, low-information white people. Trump supporters might retort: “That’s because Trump supports the little guy and Clinton helps the already privileged college grads.” But that’s false: Trump supporters in the primaries had an average income of about $72,000 per year. They aren’t rich, but make more than the national average and more than Clinton supporters" quoted from the Foreign Policy

  The Room Where It Happened, John Bolton writes about January 6, 2018 one of the first book written on Trump being president "Fire and Fury" where Trump tweets that he is a very stable genius. As we've seen the last few years from books to commentaries writing about being unfit for president. Yet with all of this written culminating to the impeachment, Mr. Trump. Bolton talks about making his difficult decisions prior to resigning like other past officials. He describes the uniformity about how one is unsatisfied with the administration, He talks about the the Iran Nuclear Treaty, North Korea, China during his tenure as National Security Adviser. He credits Trump on his Defense budget initiatives yet he reflects on his concerns we loss on the nuclear treat on North Korea's ballistic program. He explains how Trump is so focus on his trade deal with China and most Trump is waiting for Nov. 4 until he calls the Chinese President on this. 

On impeachment, Bolton writes on the Democrats' Impeachment malpractice by merely concentrating on Ukraine. He claims potential issues beyond Ukraine should have been looked into. He explains why he did not testify as the democrats did not explore beyond their party lines to be bi-partisan. His concern mostly on the issue of abuse of power. This is why he believes his book is more useful in the philosophical usage in an election than an impeachment in a USA today interview recently. Bolton says he will not vote for Biden as well but his goal is for the Republican party to hold on control of Republican controlled senate. He also concerns on the Rule of Law to be even handed on the recent actions of the President on the legal justice system today, This is why he claims that the President wanted to do everything to stop the publication of his book. It's not really about national security but about the consequences of the effects on the elections is why the President wanted to stop this book from being out to the public, he states. Bolton claims he merely wants to substantiate that the President and the administration did not act on national security concerns as needed. He's always focus on trade which is why there's risk on America's national security. He knows that even as Republicans reads his book they will still vote for Trump but his distinct goal is to showcase people who and what they are voting for.

On Covid-19, Mr. Trump initially do anything at first as his fear was about his China Trade deal and he didn't want to say anything against the Chinese President. He states that the administration's initiatives can be tweak in second based on the President's personal needs. This is why it took this White House to even do anything about the pandemic for a long time. This is also the fact that he and himself and others who have left the administration had experience. There was a lot of thinking and re-thinking that your following the orders of the commander in chief and  the n at some point in time be challenged of the fact that should one keep doing so or arrive on one's conscience.

.......................................John Bolton's genius as a note taker is why this book extends to about 500 pages of extensive recollection even to Trump's rants and phone calls. He focuses on the visible "is all about me", his personal interest than what the country needs. The ignorant white based he had when he won and somewhat starting to disband lately in lieu of the recent events of the rising cases of covid-19 and the street protest after the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. 

Trump's conversation with Xi, in Bolton's book was even more dumbfounding. While Trump talks about his favorite trade, he turns on the upcoming Presidential elections alluding to China's economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleads with Xi to ensure he wins as Bolton wrote. Sounds familiar like Ukraine? I believe this is just once instance why Bolton stated the impeachment malpractice of the democrats should have gone beyond Ukraine.

Trump and his campaign today creates a post pandemic strategy totally opposite to the administrations corona-virus task force on face mask, testing and social distancing. The president still lives on his 2016 strategy that brought him victory with his then ignorant voter based. This is the first presidential campaigns outside the norm in historical perspective. If he wins with this strategy it gives a visual that America should be re-branded for being known as the land of the free, a nation of immigrants and equality to humanity.

Stable genius, uninformed, holds national security briefings once or maybe twice a week, does not want to read and study national security briefings and ask if Finland was a part of Russia. Erratic, foolish, indecisive, everything is about re-election are some excerpts on this book that stands out if one really gets to read to read in depth page by page.

How this will change the results of the upcoming US Presidential elections in November 2020 neither how the presidential historians writes about this president is something to look forward to,

Alex Esguerra