Naivete of Americans becoming a frightening thing.

Being optimistic is nice.

Being naive is less nice.

Being delusional is not nice at all.

A Washington Post-Ipsos poll released today said that 77 percent of Americans surveyed who have been furloughed or laid off during the current pandemic believe they will be rehired by their former employers once the stay-at-home order ends.

Donald Trump: Egg or Plant?

In other results, 62 percent of the same group said they believe in the Easter Bunny and 54 percent believe Donald Trump's tan is real.

Something like 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance the last six weeks, and it's expected that when unemployment figures are released Friday, they will be the highest since the Great Depression.

So how will the end of the stay-at-home order change that?

Something like two-thirds of American workers have been employed in what is known as the "service industry," meaning that these are people who one way or another wait on customers.


Restaurants, stores, theaters, malls, arenas, stadiums ...

Do we really think that telling people they're allowed to go out to dinner or the movies means they will? Will they stand in line for an hour to get into Olive Garden with tables packed close together? Will they jam themselves into a movie theater to see the latest superhero movie?

I'm thinking the answer to that is no.

And if I'm right, the odds are long against these places hiring back 25 percent of their employees, let alone 77 percent, if they're only getting 10-20 percent of their customers back.

Of course that becomes a vicious cycle. Folks who are unemployed don't go to restaurants or the movies.

I don't know what Friday's unemployment number will be. I've heard 16 percent, 20 percent or even higher. But the one thing most pundits seem to agree on is that it won't get much lower than 10 percent by the end of the year. That doesn't bode well for the Christmas shopping season.

It also doesn't bode well for Republicans in the November elections. Trump keeps saying the economy will be great by autumn, but I think he believes that if he says it enough, people will start to believe it.

Barring that, he has already resorted to his usual tactic of blaming everyone else for his own mistakes. China, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Democrats ... EBT -- Everybody But Trump.

As the president realizes that isn't working, look for all sorts of other sleazy tactics.

None of that ought to work, but that one number keeps bothering me.

77 percent.

Let's hope they don't vote.