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The White House doesn’t know which end is up when it comes to Covid.

Mask or no mask? Test or no test? Social distancing? Only, apparently, from common sense.

Trump is leading everyone to rush back in and open up, even as the U.S. death toll rises to over 80,000, more deaths than the Vietnam War.

The only thing missing is a real sense of public mourning. The Trump administration seems to have lost all sense of humanity and just sees the death toll as an extension of the unemployment numbers and the yo-yo that is the Dow Jones.

It’s not the way to run an airline (an entire industry in shambles), but it’s especially not the way to run a country.

We are stuck with this inept White House as we begin the week trying to figure out how we’re going to manage with Dr.Anthony Fauci, and other key bureaucrats, on lockdown after testing has revealed the virus has impacted the White House.

On my podcast, “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” in the opening monologue, I talk about the news that Stephen Miller’s wife has tested positive. Miller is the architect of this administration’s immigration policy. Listen to my take on the podcast.

But here I want to discuss the valet who served Trump his burgers and Diet Cokes, and how the valet has tested positive.

Trump named Miller’s wife, Katie. And there’s talk about the White House officials who are self-quarantining. Why no ID on the valet?

It may be military protocol, but chances are, the valet is a person of color.

In the past, the valets rise up the ranks in the Navy. They are enlisted personnel who rise to ensign level and often become stewards and valets. The whole thing about the valet and sometime driver with close proximity to the president just made me think of Bayani Nelvis, a member of my Filipino American Hall of Fame.

Nelvis was the Filipino in the pantry, the valet to Bill Clinton. And he was the “man of the hour” for a short time during the Monica Lewinsky affair. The Starr report tried to make Nelvis the man who could identify whether Clinton and Lewinsky were ever alone. Turns out Nelvis was alone more with Lewinsky, chatting her up when she came to visit the Oval Office, all cordially and appropriately. As it turned out, Nelvis was not the smoking gun. He was the dutiful valet and that’s all.

It’s a little tidbit of history but indicative of the vantage point of this unidentified valet who serves Trump his sodas, perhaps with or without a splash of Covid.

History will note when the valet got the virus, everyone in the White House began to take matters seriously.

If the valet is a person of color, it would be quite a big deal since the record of this administration when it comes to people of color and the virus is remarkably indifferent. A little lip service about Blacks impacted disproportionately. No lip service when it come to Pacific Islanders impacted disproportionately. Or Filipino nurses.

But what do you expect from a president who hired undocumented workers for his golf courses and properties while espousing harsh deportation and anti-immigrant policies. (Oh, there’s Stephen Miller again).

AN INTERVIEW WITH PROF. E.J. RAMOS DAVID
My rant goes into my feelings about Miller and his family. I also talk about Mother’s Day under lockdown and other things (e.g., do you miss sports? Is zooming each other sport enough?).

But the podcast main event is Prof. E.J. Ramos David, of the University of Alaska, and an expert on colonial mentality. Filipinos are especially prone because we were colonized by the U.S. as its very first colony.

But other Asians know the impact of colonization, from India to Vietnam to Hong Kong. And we finish up talking about skin-whitening. Yes, skin-whitening.

It’s Emil Amok’s Takeout! Listen to the audio podcast here.

And then go to http://www.amok.com and watch it on video!