I’m so mad at my government right now. (Lockdown progress report for April 2, 2020)

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I’m a registered Independent and have been since I first voted at age 18. Granted, I’m left-leaning and I vote Democrat 90 percent of the time, but I have voted Republican in local elections and I reserve the right to do so again. I considered voting Republican in California’s gubernatorial race last year, but the candidate said he was “proud” to have Trump’s endorsement so I was no longer interested.

Two of my three professors and several of my classmates have COVID-19.

My professor in Virginia is a confirmed case of COVID-19, despite the fact that, due to having a compromised immune system, she’s barely left her house in three weeks.

My professor in Hawaii was not able to be tested, like so many of my fellow Americans, but her doctor said she “probably” has coronavirus. In the same class as my Hawaii professor, two of my classmates (out of eight total), both living in California like me, have been sick with all the “right symptoms” but also cannot be tested.

They’re too young, too healthy to get a test. So they just stay at home and cross their fingers.

I am so, so mad at Trump and his cronies.

I mean, I’ve been mad at him for three and a half years, so that’s not really new, but this coronavirus stuff is taking it to new heights. This time, his narcissism and stupidity is actually killing people. It probably always was, but now it’s more direct and obvious.

Even before all this, I said I would vote for a pineapple wearing sunglasses for president before I would vote for him.

The pineapple is way cuter (right? I mean look at her!), and would be less likely to do long-term damage to our country. I bet she’d have more consistency within her cabinet, too.

In other words, I’d vote for the pineapple for essentially all the same reasons I’ll vote for Joe Biden come November, even though he’s basically male Hillary Clinton and I never much cared for her, either.

I think if votes were counted not as one person, one vote, but proportionate to the amount of distaste we have for the candidate we’re voting against, we’d manage to get this guy out of office with ease.

As it is, he’s going to be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and will still probably get himself re-elected. Despite botching — and continuing to botch — the response to the outbreak, his approval ratings are actually going up instead of down. Which just blows my mind. Because — I mean look:

Which, if you think about it, means I should be mad not at the government but at the 30 percent of Americans who consistently think this nepotistic, racist, ignorant, would-be dictator is actually doing a good job.

My professor last night (the one in Hawaii) worried aloud that COVID-19 might cancel or delay November’s election, since September will probably bring with it a resurgence of the virus.

Good God. Let’s hope not.

But let’s end on a positive note.

I apologize for spending today’s post on a depressing and negative rant. I needed to get it off my chest and it’s my damn blog, after all. But I don’t want to be this bleak without ending with hope.

My hope lies in my students, these amazing young people who are going to be eighteen any minute now, and who I am thoroughly convinced have the intelligence, curiosity, good hearts, and sense of justice to take this country in a markedly different direction. With their mischievous smirks and #OkBoomer outlooks, I have tremendous faith in them.

My hope lies in the many incredible teachers I know, who, in a grassroots way, one mind at a time, are nurturing that next generation with love instead of fear, wisdom instead of ignorance, and thoughtfulness instead of carelessness.

My hope lies in ordinary people like the workers of General Electric, who recently launched a protest to demand not an increase in wages or more PPE, but because they want to start making ventilators instead of jet engines.

And of course, my hope lies with the doctors and nurses coming out of retirement or credentialing programs or volunteering to fly to other states to put themselves on the front lines of this pandemic in order to save as many lives as possible, and with the first-responders, like firefighters and EMS workers and even hospital secretaries, all risking themselves so that more of us might be protected. Same with the National Guard members who will no doubt be called up to help, ripped from their own families so that they can serve the families of others.

In other words, my hope lies with the basic, fundamental goodness of human nature, and that this underlying goodness will have the capacity to outweigh our baser instincts.

(And the ability to counteract whatever damage the sunburnt turnip we call a president will do to our country.)

And with that, excuse me — I think I need to go meditate now.