When in doubt, whip it out! I learned that phrase while in the U.S. Army’s Parachute Training course at Fort Benning, Georgia. The instructor told his students to think of parachuting as parallel to a life plan. In life, he said, things go better with a plan, but occasionally plans go awry. So, we should also have a back-up (a reserve) plan.
In parachuting, the plan is for the main parachute to deploy after exiting the aircraft, then provide a safe descent to the ground. If we experienced main parachute failure, we were instructed to shed our main parachute and activate our reserve (back-up) parachute. The reserve ‘chute would take us safely to the ground. When in doubt, whip it out!
Donald Trump’s many failures as president have occurred because he had no main plan or reserve plan to whip out. The threat posed by the COVID-19 virus should have triggered Trump’s main plan to combat the threat. But Trump had no plans to address the most serious problem of his presidency. He even refused to implement a comprehensive response plan developed during the Obama administration and handed to him.
If Trump were a would-be paratrooper in a parachute training course, he would refuse to wear a main or reserve parachute. That would be pure idiocy! And Trump’s response to the COVID-19 virus, like his presidency, is pure idiocy. Good presidents have a plan. When in doubt, whip it out!
Michael K. Broughton
Green Park
