PODCAST: When Is Opening Day?

Good question. After two months, a lot of people are itching to lose the masks and gloves, return to work, and get their lives back to normal. Believe it or not, others want to see the country stay in paralysis until the election making it a sore political subject. We obviously cannot do the latter as the United States would become a burned out shell by then. The question though is when to re-open the country, and that will be the toughest question President Trump will face as he knows the clock is ticking on our ability to recover from this mess.

Whatever day President Trump picks, the press will, of course, ridicule his decision and the Democrats will turn it into a political football. In other words, they do not want him to win on this one which is why they are trying to undermine him every step of the way. Frankly, we do not have time for such hi-jinks; the show must go on.

The decision to open back up will be shared between the president, and the state governors. The Republicans will, of course, side with the president, and the Democrats will not. Nonetheless, if the Republican led states begin to open up, the liberal news media will criticize them, but they will still open up, thereby applying pressure on Democrat states to do likewise. Please keep in mind there are more Republican-led states than there are Democrat-led. It will be interesting to see how the larger Democrat-led states will react, particularly New York, Michigan, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, and California.

The one Democrat-led state to pay particular attention to is Nevada where the gambling and tourist trade has been crippled by the coronavirus. Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) will be pressured to open the state, not just by the casinos and resorts, but by members of his own party who desperately want to go back to work. If Nevada opens, this will put pressure on West Coast Democrat-led states to do likewise, particularly California who has been struggling financially for quite some time.

The opening of states like Nevada and Florida will not only pressure tourist attractions to open, but will also push sports venues to reopen, particularly Major League Baseball. As for basketball and hockey, they may go into tournament play, but I believe their seasons are essentially over. Interestingly, the NFL will be untouched by the virus, but will instigate precautions for safeguarding attendance at their games.

Following this, watch the transportation industry begin to rebound.

The “anti-open” people will rebel loudly, but this is to be expected. By doing so, they run the risk of becoming an annoyance and losing votes in November. In other words, they will be coerced into accepting the reopening of the country.

So, when exactly should we re-open? This too has been a tricky question, one the president has been shrewd to avoid. During the presidential virus news conferences, reporters have repeatedly tried to pin him down to a date, so they can spread false alarms and insist the commander-in-chief is incompetent to remain in office (sound familiar?). Fortunately, the president has a lot of data available for his team to analyze and make a recommendation. Whatever date is picked, it will remain an educated guess, but it will be better than simply picking a date out of the air. Again, whichever date is picked, the president’s opponents will seize on the moment and politicize it.

The point is, we obviously have to re-open sooner or later; otherwise we will go into a death spiral. Whatever day Mr. Trump picks, it will be ridiculed by his opponents. This is all inevitable. However, if the American people truly want to return to work, as I suspect they do, they will support the president’s decision and move on with their lives.

Let’s be clear on one point, regardless of the day picked to re-open, life will not be quite the same anymore. For example, masks and gloves will not disappear any time soon, particularly at sporting events, and people will keep their social distance from each other in general.

As to an exact date, I will leave it the president’s team, but we typically like to marry it to a well known holiday. The betting is on a date in May, of which we have plenty of choices:

Tue, May 5th – Cinco de Mayo – Yea, let’s get drunk one last time before going back to work.

Sun, May 10th – Mother’s Day – Not a bad time to return back to work in support of Moms everywhere.

Sat, May 16th – Armed Forces Day – Also a good day to return to work following a patriotic day.

Mon, May 25th – Memorial Day – This will be the favorite as it is a three day weekend. However, it is far away.

Actually, I think it would be more appropriate to use Monday, May 11th, as this is Twilight Zone Day. It makes sense to me.

Keep the Faith!

EDITORS NOTE: This Bryce is Right podcast is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

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