NOTE: I started writing this a couple days ago. With the news this morning that President Trump and his wife have been infected with covid I sincerely hope they are asymptomatic, or have mild cases. It is no secret I do not think he is, or has ever been, a competent leader of the nation, but I would never wish him or anyone the misfortune of infectious misery. It is everyone’s wish and in our best interest that the President and Melania have a quick recovery.
When President Trump revealed that he knew back in January that the corona virus was a terrifyingly contageous pathogen and then eight months and 200,000 deaths later tell a worshiping crowd of supporters that no one should worry because it hardly affects anyone, you would think that would be an indication to most people that maybe this man should not be in charge of anything, let alone the well being of over 300 million citizens. But talk to a typical attendee of a Trump rally and you get the impression the important thing to remember is whatever the president says last. Asked why they feel so unconcerned about placing themselves into confined space and not wearing face coverings, most will reply they don’t believe the virus is especially harmful, and you will even get a few who say the whole pandemic is a hoax. There will curiously be a few elderly citizens who seem to be a bit on the contagiousness fence, but perfectly fine with resigning themselves to whatever fate has in store for them. If it’s their time to go, so be it. All is well and good.
I suppose this is fine, and good, for the person expressing his willgness to travel to the great beyond, since whoever it is seems to be expressing some kind of confident courage, or even patriotism, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of Trumpism and positive economic outcomes. But this is bad, bad for the misguided supporter (no one wants to see you go) and mostly for the rest of us. Besides self protection, the more important reason for social distancing and wearing a mask is to protect others and prevent this god awful stuff from spreading. Not abiding by basic pandemic protcols is bad and selfish, not good. For Trump, of course downplaying the disease meshes nicely with his self-centered, narcissism. It’s all good there. Instill a false sense of security. People feel it’s perfectly safe to gather and spend money and the economy improves and Trump looks good. Untill it turns bad again when people infect other people, the economy stagnates, and the whole cycle gets even worse as we head into the flu season.
You can catalog multiple instances of how Trump has been able to twist something bad (i.e. voting twice) into something his entreched followers to believe is good (it’s good for Trump therefore it’s good for you). Out of the massive dumpster overflowing with very, very bad things Trump has said and done, nothing is more egregious, nothing should infuriate us more, than the damage he is inflicting on our election process. It is very bad for a sitting president to declare he will not abide by one of the lynch pins of our form of democracy- the peaceful transision of power. That is so bad it should be considered a disqualifying event. Nothing good can be converted from this border-line treasonous avouchment.
Because Trump is such a master of gas lighting, his susceptible supporters will once again believe this is just another aspect of Trump’s disruptive master plan to fix America, and shrug it off. All they will be hearing from now until election day is how rigged the system is with all of the mail balloting going on. Nothing good will come of this contemptuous, irresponsibley false, despotic ranting. Trump realizes the odds of his reelection are not in his favor and he is not above doing anything to stay in power, including imploding our democracy.
It is dumbfounding to me to see conservative media get so worked up about some sort of impending, socialistic conspiracy on the horizon if Joe Biden is elected. Accordingly it is surmised socialism will be so consuming that within four years the country will be under communist rule. For Pete sakes! Right before our eyes the current administration has undermind our laws and institutions, neutered the checks and balances of the legilative branch by intimidation, used paramilitary squads to supress peaceful protest, removed adminstrative oversight from multiple goverment departments, verbally attacked the courts, turned the Department of Justice into his own political puppet, and avariciously profited from his position of executive power. Cronyism and corruption within the current administration has been rampant and our democracy is migrating from a kleptocracy to autocracy. The man in charge of our special form of democratic government is so consumed by his fear of losing an election he is panic stricken to point of dismantling it all to save his job. President Trump has publicly stated the only way he will lose the election is if the Democrats cheat, and not so subtely encouraged radical supporters to “stand by” if he loses. What he is suggesting is a dictatorial coup. This is all currently occurring. Yet none of that seems to bother his base, or his Republican sycophants. Their worry is about some manufactured and very bazzar, futuristic conspiracy theory that the Democratic party is contriving to establish communistic rule. That is absurd. The finer point is Trump’s fascist demagogery is bad and dangerously seditious. That is not good.
As we have recently found out via his income tax information, Trump has maneuvred through his life using smoke and mirrors. All of his business conduct, the shady practices, tax manipulation and evasion, accumulation of mountainous debt, falsifing asset values, it’s all incrimmnating evidence of a fraudulent and disasterous businessman. But paradoxically, Trump supporters believe that is all part of his genius and that somehow deception and manipulation are good for the country. You might be able to say he’s a genius in one respect. He will probably become recognized as one of the most cunning public figures recorded in history. Unconscionable conduct might be good for Trump. But it is bad for the rest of us.
If President Trump is so concerned with voting fraud, it is his responsibilty to do everything he can to fix it. The reality is he seems to think it is to his advantage to do nothing and even create obsticles to voting. And anyway as far as fraud goes there is actually little to fix. Recently the FBI, Homeland Security, the Brennan Center for Justice, all examined data and concluded fraudulent mail voting to be practically nonexistent. George W Bush’s Justice Department conducted a five year investigation of all aspects of voter fraud and only found 120 cases worth prosecuting. It was a different voting issue, but the president’s own commision, headed by sycophant Kris Kobach, which was investigating voter registration fraud, had to disband because of lack of evidence. The most prominent person promoting voter fraud is the President of the United States himself by telling people to vote twice.
And you can not evaluate Trumpism without discussing racism. The subject is so involved it would be sensless to address it here. All I should need to say about that is it is bad. I will say I do believe much of the Trump allure has more to do with castism than racism. But both intertwine, and Trump has subtely used both to divide the coutnry and that is definately not good.
Trump’s view of the world is transactional. He is only interested in what promotes or protects him. Covid is just a numbers game to him- polls, TV ratings, and the stock market. Of course he should be concerned with the economy, but not to the extent of blinding disregard for human life. One of the reasons he did so little to contain the pandemic was he was aware that initially the virus was overwhelmingly affecting “blue” states. Of course there are “red” voters in “blue” states. But not in meaningful enough numbers to him. That now is his approach to the presidential election. Trump has sewed divsion in this county so thoroughly he can no longer escape the consequences. He is counting on his unshakable devotees to keep believing his lies and obviously hoping gas lighting the fabrications will either recruit more followers or, in the absence of that, create presidential election chaos. His irresponsible, divisive approach with covid has had an incalculable impact on ending over 200,000 American lives. It’s that same approach that could end the American form of democracy. All of it should be universally understood as bad.