Cynicism and Amorality.

Fred Hiat, Editorial page editor of The Washington Post published an op/ed piece on Sunday afternoon. It opened with the following lines: 

There is never a silver lining to somebody else’s illness, but you might have thought that President Trump’s infection at least could have offered a learning moment for his supporters. 

If so, you would have underestimated the cynicism and amorality of the Trump campaign.   

This was written before the late afternoon joyride to wave at his loyal subjects amassed without masks (for the most part) outside the hospital grounds. 

Then came the news that he came to Minnesota already showing symptoms, and ignored our own mask mandates. It's interesting to note that three most loyal members of the idiot alliance were on the plane with him, also without masks. Why would he want to run the risk of infecting his slavish supporters? I can think of 2 reasons, the anthropological and the practical. 

There have been narcissistic leaders since the birth of clan living. Everyone has run across some person who thinks he/she knows better than anyone else how to run a clan/town/city/county/country/planet. There are some cases where that person can do a pretty good job. Sometimes, like Napoleon, they start out doing a pretty good job until the God complex kicks in. This is not news. Egyptians, Romans, Peruvians, and Japanese all, at one point or another, worshipped their various rulers as deities or demigods. One would hope we have come a long way since those days, although there are still groups who continue to consider sovereigns to be appointed by G-d. Sure. When we get to modern narcissistic leaders, we have a better sense of how they got to that elevated place because, basically, the printing press (read that as all media) pretty much leaves a paper trail of their history. What never ceases to amaze me is how the liars and clowns manage to get into power in the first place. 

Liars and clowns trade on fear. It's their best weapon. They want you to believe there is a boggart* out there waiting to get you. This scary thing can be a group, a philosophy, or a person. Doesn't much matter what it is. The liars and clowns pound on this is as functionally scare-able; they continue their rhetoric as if the boggart is real and the inability to see it makes that person an imbecile. It's an easy way to divide a community or nation, an easy wedge to pound on once there is a small cadre of true believers. My favorite example is ANTIFA. Feckless keeps talking about it as though it was a name of an organization. Interestingly, he insists that anti-Fascists are to be feared, when, in fact, this entire nation was built on anti-fascism and we fought wars against fascists. But Feckless Leader says anti-fascism is unAmerican. Hmmmm. 

Now there is a segment of the population that subscribes to these untruths, along with a number of others like Joe Biden wants to defund the police and universal health care is socialist. (Ummm, what would one call Medicare?) There is a disconnect between what is real and what is not; that line is increasingly blurred as Feckless Leader keeps hammering on the nonsense.  The bigger the lie, the more people believe it.He carries on as though he were, indeed, invincible, attending functions after it was clear...according to reports...that he was ill. He is airlifted to Walter Reed out of an "abundance of caution," and sent videos and texts showing he is still in control, still working, and obviously not bothered by COVID because, after all, he has special access to his super-meds....in which he has a financial stake.Obviously, this obese, outta shape, junk-food devouring cult figure is immune to the effects of the disease thereby becoming a self-proclaimed Übermensch.

And for the practical part?  Well, practical if you are a supportive of this brainless narcissist. 

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago

Don't be afraid of Covid ? 

At this writing, over TWO HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND AMERICANS ARE DEAD and we shouldn't be afraid of COVID-19? What's next? He's gonna lay hands???????

For the record, as I write this, he just got off Marine-One, walked into the White House into a crowd and removed his mask, even though the White House is already declared a hot zone. EVEN if he is already infected, he is highly contagious. He has to be the driving part of this story, tailored to his fantasy world, showing him as some kind of Übermensch. 

Never mind the campaign...this highlights the cynicism and amorality of Feckless Leader...

Which brings me to part 2: he is not infected with COVID-19, he never was infected, but with a little luck, maybe he will be infected....but he's not infected now.

The Twilight Zone doctor briefing on Saturday should've set off every bell and whistle in the known universe. They couldn't even decide on how to describe his version of the illness. If his blood ox was down, maybe it was because his sphincter was cutting off the air flow. That would certainly be a more plausible excuse. The Doctor Clownie show said they were giving him dexamethasone....really? Are they serious? That's for people who are seriously ill. Side-effects make it contra-indicated for less-than-severe cases. 

Then he demands to go home and they send him home. As soon as he gets off the chopper and walks into the crowd waiting for him, he removes his mask. FUCK the people that are standing there! He is inviting them to become infected by him IF he is actually infected. Which should be one more sign he is not infected. Add to that the White House announcement that they are not following the protocols for contact tracing. This has moved far beyond absurd; it is downright dangerous.

Do you get some kind of bragging rights if you get COVID-19 from Feckless Leader? Is this like being the king's mistress? If you get herpes or chlamydia from the royal dick, is it still a serious disease? Ya, sure, you betcha. 

When the chopper ride didn't give him the sympathy boost he wanted, he went for the dread-er disease version, followed by the hand-waving joy ride around Walter Reed. That didn't do much for him either, so he went for videos and tweeting. This is the epitome of fake news. 

This is Feckless Leader's version of, "I don't feel good; I don't wanna go to school today," that same excuse he probably used when he didn't wanna take a test or do a report. You know what I mean...kinda like bone spurs. 

Two specific items come to mind. The first is exactly what everyone thinks: after the Cleveland debacle, it should come as no surprise that he doesn't wanna get on the stage with Vice President Biden. He made an unmitigated ass out of himself...compounded by his own ridiculous assertions that he won the debate. Really? Maybe on Twilight Zone planet, but sure as hell not on this one. 

The second is more devious: the confirmation of the Handmaid Coney Barrett as Justice. The fake illness, like every other whacko thing this guy does, is a red herring. It's to divert attention from Amy Coney Barrett. IF the White House is a hot spot, and IF he is working on spreading, not controlling the virus, infecting the rest of the government is a sure-fire way to delay elections. IF the focus is taken off the confirmation of the new justice and she gets in, she will be the pivot vote in overturning the election. 

You think I'm kidding? I am not. These things don't happen by chance, not with guys like Stephen "that shonda" Miller in the background. None of this is arbitrary. These guys are pros; they know exactly what they are doing and they are counting on the rest of us setting our hair on fire.

The next 30 days require cold calculation on our part. I'm not convinced anything will save this election, or get that fat-assed orange outta the White House.  Vote. Drive people to vote. Drive people to drop off their ballots in person. But sulking this one out is not a viable option...at least not if you want to have a democracy at the end of this ordeal.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The difference between Donald Trump and G-d?

G-d does not believe She is Donald Trump.

NOTE:

*BOGGART: it occurred to me that bogeyman or boogey-man may be construed as racist even though neither actually is. Turns out J.K.Rowling used a real word to describe the scary thing in the closet. A BOGGART is an old English word for a malevolent spirit or goblin-like creature.