You got it wrong. Reagan was the Godfather of "Trickle Down Economics". Dubya never had an original thought before, during, or after his gig. That's why he kept Tricky Dick II around. Except for how to mispronounce "nuclear", along with most of the rest of the English language.
Please explain how the writer of a covered call and the purchaser of that call can't both be profitable on that trade then.
Because the positions are not opposing. It's zero-sum limited to the options. The two counter-parties are not trading fungible positions at a price, so it's an apples to oranges comparison. The writer of the covered call is short a synthetic put, while the purchaser of the call, is long a natural call. The outcome of the call-itself, it zero-sum (-sum with commissions).