Meet Donny and Tony, a couple of kids from the outer boroughs. Donny grew up in Queens and made his money in real estate and grifting. Tony is from Queens and became a doctor. Both are in their seventies, Tony being about five years older.

For the past three years Donny had the most important job on the planet. Now Tony does, but Donny is sorta his boss. Tony is a very intelligent guy, extremely mature. Donny is bombastic and we think he can read.

Now here’s the thing. Donny is being faced with the most existential crisis this country has faced at least since 9/11, perhaps since World War II. And he’s called in Tony to help since Tony is better-equipped to tackle the problem than anyone alive. There’s just one problem: at least half of Tony’s job is managing Donny. Maybe more.

See, as we’ve already noted, Tony is very smart. He’s good at reading people. And what he knows is that Donny respects two things and two things only: money and power. And for Donny nothing is out of bounds—not lies, not crimes, nothing—in the pursuit of those two goals. Tony, on the other hand, has devoted his life to helping and healing people. He’s actually worked much harder and taken jobs that pay way less in order to help people. That’s who he is.

Now here’s another thing that Tony knows about Donny: that this man is completely tethered not only to self-gratification, but also to immediate self-gratification. It’s why he stages these rallies nearly every week. He doesn’t do it because he wants to be reelected, although he does. He feeds off the high he gets from the adulation. Finally, late in life, he’s able to bathe in this naked approbation.

So Tony knows this about Donny. Meanwhile, he’s been put in charge of tackling this pandemic thing, which is a word people probably needed to define for Donny some time within the last month.

Donny wants the stock market to remain high. If the market is high, he can say that the economy is great (the greatest ever), and that will get him reelected, and then he can spend four more years staging rallies and feeding off the love. That’s power.

As far as Donny is concerned, he needs this pandemic to go away as soon as possible so that it doesn’t interfere with this incredible bull market. But Tony knows that it doesn’t work that way. He tries to explain to Donny that the only way this goes away is with a vaccine, and that won’t come until a year from now, which is after the election.

So Donny says, “Well, we can speed it up, right? We’re America. We can get one of those vaccines out in a few weeks?” No, Tony says. Vaccines don’t work that way. There are clinical trials yada yada yada and Donny’s already moved on the the next idea.

“Okay, if we can’t get a vaccine quickly, then we can just keep the numbers down.” What? “Keep the numbers down. If people don’t get tested, then there’s no proof that they had this virus. So that’ll keep the numbers down.”

But what happens when people begin dying by the hundreds and thousands? “People die of the flu every year, right? People die of pneumonia. That’s what they died of.”

Tony is in a jam. He believes that the best way to help America is to be spear-heading this presidential task force. But he also understands that his boss’ primary concern is not taking care of people; it’s making the disease disappear (even if it hasn’t) so that the stock market will climb back toward 30,000.

“All those people in hospitals?” Fake news.

“All the deaths overseas?” That’s their problem.

Tony’s not anti-capitalist. Somewhere on his priority list, probably lower, he’d like to see the stock market climb as well. But Tony understands highly infectious diseases. He understands terms such as “flattening the curve” and “exponential.” And what he’s trying to convince his boss, who only understands immediate gratification, is that they must be transparent about this virus and that they must be candid with the American people about what needs to be done.

In the short run that means the economy will literally grind to a halt in a way that none of us have ever seen, at least not beyond a few days. And that will tank the market further, in the near term. But if we don’t take those measures, the numbers of cases and deaths will be exponentially higher.

Donny counters, “Unless we don’t let people get tests. Even though we say they can.”

But the media will unearth the disparity between what we say and what is happening. Doctors and nurses will talk. The cover-up will be everywhere.

“I’ll just keep saying, ‘Fake News,'” Donny says.

Tony tries to persuade his boss that it’s like that old commercial line from the auto mechanic: You can pay me now or you can pay me later. Tony says that it’s better to take the pain now because ultimately the pain will be fractional as to what it might’ve been. Donny simply doesn’t understand. If he can just tell enough lies to keep America optimistic, if he can placate the public at least until early November, that’s all that matters to him. And by the way, why do all these media outlets have to keep updating the number of cases and deaths. Who’s giving that information to them? We need to stop that.

Tony really wants to help America. But his boss only traffics in self- and immediate gratification. Tony knows that the only effective measure against this virus, until a vaccine is developed, is to mandate that Americans go into exile, so to speak. To shut down culture, crowds and most of the economy.

To get as many people tested as possible. Whereas Donny wants to have as few people tested as possible, himself included.

Tony is in a jam. As were General Kelly, General Mattis, etc. He doesn’t really believe in this president, and he knows that Donny’s behavior is actually horribly counterproductive. But Tony thinks the best way for him to help is to be the president’s resident expert. If only Tony can get Donny to see that it’s the disease that needs to be tackled, not Wall Street. But Donny doesn’t care. Because he doesn’t care about people. He cares about wealth. And power. And satisfying himself.

Two guys from the outer boroughs. Two very different lives lived. Two entirely different sets of values. Donny’s the boss. And Tony’s his fixer. But Tony knows that Donny is part of the problem, perhaps the biggest part of it outside of the virus itself. And Donny only wants to hear about lower numbers, not about how much it will cost or how long it will take.

How long will this marriage last? Anyone’s guess.