Category: 1

It’s astounding how election day seems to both be speeding toward us and simultaneously taking its own freaking sweet time.  As fast as it’s moving, it’s also taking forever.  We are becoming that desperate to get Trump out of office that every day he’s still there seems like ten.

It’s also been ten days since Trump came down with Covid.  After coming out of a several day stay at Walter Reed that would have cost the average American citizen around $100,000, he has paraded around the White House maskless, standing on a balcony and invoking recollections of “Evita.”  Meanwhile the White House itself has become something of a ghost town.  Thirty-four staffers (that we know of) have contracted Covid, in addition to Melania Trump, Hope Hicks, Steven Miller, Kayleigh McEnany,  (and my guess is Mike Pence as well.).  Most staffers are working from home while Trump continues to insist that he’s fine, not communicable, recovering nicely, in terrific physical shape rather than being morbidly obese, and declaring that people should be perfectly fine with living with a disease that has killed over 210,000 Americans with no end in sight.  At the same time, his staff refuses to specify when was the last time he tested negative.  That reluctance suggests one of two things:  Either he knew he had it when he went to debate Biden and hoped he’d give it to his opponent.  Or his statements that he was being tested every other day were lies and he wasn’t being tested at all.  Neither reflects well.

Meanwhile schools remain in a state of flux as students and teachers come down with it and Broadway has announced that they are going to remain shut down until May of 2021.  Thousands of people remain unemployed, billions of dollars annually won’t flow into New York’s coffers, and obviously there won’t be any Tony Awards in 2021.  But hey, at least Trump is feeling well enough to…

Okay.  Clearly he’s not feeling well enough to do pretty much anything.

The country is witnessing something unique in our history:  We are watching a chief executive of the United States having a complete mental breakdown.

This is not hyperbole.  This is not a typical assessment that Trump is an egotistical narcissist.  

We are genuinely watching a walking advertisement for the 25^th Amendment.   Nancy Pelosi obviously agrees, because she is currently introducing a bill regarding it that many speculate is because she wants to activate it.

Trump has retreated to his comfort bubble of Fox News and rallies.  He rambles for an hour at a time to hapless Fox commentators who keep lobbing him softball questions while he rants about why hasn’t Hillary Clinton been indicted (for what?  No clue.) and calls Kamala Harris a monster in the same way that an angry teen would describe the girl who dumped him a week before prom.  When it was decided that the next presidential debate would be done virtually, Trump dismissed the idea.  Of course he did.  He has no record to run on; he has a huge target on his back thanks to Covid and the collapsing economy.  His assertions that Biden is lacking mentally were totally demolished thanks to Biden’s performance in the first shout fest.  (And it’s now turned out that Trump’s constant interruptions were a strategy suggested by Chris Christie deliberately to try and trigger Biden’s stammer, which could then be sold as proof of dementia.  I hope some sort of karmic revenge is exerted on Christie so that…what?  Excuse me?  Christie has Covid, too?  Wow, that was fast.).  It’s natural that Trump would therefore shun the notion of a virtual debate.  His entire debate strategy depends on looming and trying to shout over his opponent.  If he’s on a TV screen, he’s entirely at the mercy of the moderators.   I’m reasonably sure they watched the first debate, know exactly what Trump will do, and will not hesitate to shut him down.  If he’s in person and they mute his mic, he can shout in hopes his voice will be picked up over Biden’s microphone.  If he’s on a video screen, they just mute him.  It’ll be like debating Max Headroom.

Biden, of course, agreed to the format, which is perfect.  Ninety minutes of a Trump-free town hall should be all that’s required to nail down the final support Biden needs to take the election in such an indisputable fashion that Trump will never be able to offer proof of wrong-doing among voters.

Besides, Trump has other things to worry about now.  It’s been announced that five years ago, Trump received a $21.1 million tax break after promising to preserve over 150 acres of woodland near his getaway estate, Seven Springs.  As something that should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, Trump’s people doubled the value of the land in order to jack up the tax break, and that is now under investigation.  It’s unlikely that anything will come from this new inquiry before election day, but it’s yet another Trump tax crime to be piled onto the steaming corpse of his tax dodging activities.

God knows there are already enough books out there about Trump, but in the future there are going to be entire volumes written about the 2020 election.  We’re watching something unique:  a campaign that is literally falling apart on a national level.  They’re running out of money; their competitor is leading them in all polls by double digits; Trump pulled one campaign manager because of the under attendance of his Oklahoma rally and the new manager has Covid.  It’s like his whole campaign is being run by Milo Murphy.  

It has to end.

So I want all of you to get out there today and vote to…

What?  Another month?  

Dammit.

PAD

We will not laugh.

This is serious business.

We are * heh * we are adults here and we will not laugh at the situation.  There are * heh heh * there are lives on the line and we will not chuckle, guffaw or otherwise spread any sense of amusement over the…

…the…

BWWAAAAAHAAHAHAHAAHAAHAHHHHHHAAAAA

Ha.

Okay.  Okay, I’ve composed myself now.  God, for the first time in my life, I know exactly how Mary Richards felt at the funeral of Chuckles the Clown.

For anyone who has just woken up or was living under a rock or is recovering from a coma and doesn’t know what I’m talking about:  Both Trump and Melania have tested positive for that notorious hoax, Covid-19.  It seems most likely that he contracted it from Hope Hicks, although amazingly a day or so ago it was clear he was trying to lay groundwork for the notion that he got it from the police or military.  “I’m with them so much.  And when they come over here, it’s very hard to say, stay back, stay back.  It’s a tough kind of situation,” he asserted, implying that if he contracted Covid, it would be from enthusiastic soldiers or law enforcement.  Gee, what a shame that he doesn’t have a coterie of body guards who could stand between him and those who want to approach him and keep them back.  Oh, wait…

There’s one other thing that’s certain now:  the whole Trump family must have it.  They were all sitting together, unmasked, on Tuesday night.  Ivanka, Eric, Don Jr., Barron…the odds are Yuge that every one of them will test positive.

This, of course, should solve the entire next debate problem.  At the very least, he’ll still be in quarantine.  And if it sickens and weakens him, he will simply not physically be able to attend.  That means that the only way he would have to be a presence at the next debate would be over video feed, and suddenly muting him becomes VERY feasible indeed.  There were those who claimed that muting him wouldn’t help; he’d simply shout so his voice would be picked up by Biden’s microphone.  Yeah, not so much when he’s on a video screen.  

And if he dies from it…

Understand, I wish death on nobody.  But if he dies from it, I believe that will finally be the wake-up call that the purblind idiots who follow his example and don’t wear masks or social distance will require to realize the disease doesn’t care about your toughness or your politics or your arrogance.  It cares about nothing except existing and spreading.  And if you give it leave to do so, it will take that invitation and run with it.  

Still, I think it behooves us to address this development in the way that Trump himself would.  Ahem…

This is going to be the best case of Covid-19 ever.  

I mean, I’ve heard others talk about getting Covid and either getting completely better from it or in rare instances, expiring from it, although you know, if they did, it’s because they were already old and lived their lives and made bad decisions that left them open to dying from it.  But they’re nothing compared to Trump.  Trump’s Covid is going to be the biggest, the best case of Covid ever.  Doctors are already saying how impressed they are by his Covid.  That they’ve seen many cases of it, but they’ve never seen a case of it like this before.  They’re all saying that shooting bleach into his body wouldn’t have done the trick because no one has ever had a case of Covid like this before.  (Of course, they said it sarcastically, but still…). Yes, sure, Herman Cain had it, but his wasn’t nearly as bad.  Trump’s is the biggest, the most Yuge, the most Covid any coronavirus has ever seen.  In fact, after this, no one else is going to have to worry about getting it because theirs won’t be able to match up.  In fact, we should stop testing altogether, because no matter what kind of Covid anyone else has, it won’t match up or be anywhere near as bad as Trump’s.  However big it is, Trump’s is bigger.  In fact, his Covid is the rarest of all:  It’s perfect.  It’s the perfect case of Covid.  All other cases of Covid have been leading up to this one.  It’s the top, the ultimate, the absolutely most perfect case of Covid in not only the history of Covid, but the history of all diseases that have killed hundreds of thousands of people.  All the other Covids can just be forgotten about.  In fact, Sleepy Joe will probably get it just to show that he can have a better case, but his won’t be nearly as perfect.

(Much thanks to Debbie Sohn for suggesting the “biggest case of Covid” approach.)

Let’s face it:  this was inevitable.  I mean, it just was.  He ignored the advice of scientists.  He held indoor rallies, he didn’t social distance, he almost never wore masks.  It all really stems from a simple psychological reason:  He considers doing what one is told a sign of weakness.  Rules, orders, dictates, laws, those don’t apply to him.  Weakness must be avoided at all because if you’re weak, you’re a loser, and a loser is absolutely the worst thing you can be.  Better to die than to lose.

Now we see if he gets his wish.

PAD 

7:51: Right wingers are already saying that Biden 1) already knows all the questions and 2) is taking drugs. There are, to my knowledge, no performance enhancing drugs for mental awareness, and *I* know what the questions will be.

7:52: I’m still convinced that Trump will ignore the social distancing rule and immediately come over to try and shake Biden’s hand.

8:40: Here’s why Biden has the advantage, bottom line: in recent months, when faced with hard questions during press conferences, Trump oftentimes bolts without replying. Because since he is in fact a bully and a coward, his instinct is to run from a fight. That’s not an option here. He’s going to go in feeling Biden and Wallace are teaming up against him and he’ll be fighting his fight or flight instinct to flee the entire time. That’s going to be distracting.

8:59: Biden’s family is masked. Trump’s family isn’t. Of course.

9:00: Nope, Melania is masked.

9:05: Nope, Trump didn’t try to shake his hand.

9:07: He’s assuming he’s going to win the election. Which figures.

9:08: Wait, wait, the Democrats DIDN’T have the election during Merrick Garland? They HAD THE White House, you moron.

9:11: Trump is NOT GOING TO SHUT UP. He’s not going to let Biden express any thoughts without interrupting with lies.

9:13: Jesus, Roe v. Wade IS on the ballot, it’s being challenged right now in courts, and Trump’s candidate wants to do away with it.

9:14: I can’t wait to hear this. Trump has NO medical plan.

9:15: Keep laughing at him, Joe. That’s going to get to him.

9:17: Cut Trump’s mike off.

9:18: No, Trump has NOT guaranteed preexisting conditions. He is currently in the courts trying to get rid of it.

9:20: Well , Biden dodged that question.

9:23: He couldn’t even let two minutes pass without interrupting.

9:25: No, they didn’t say Trump did a phenomenal job. More fabrication.

9:26: Notice that Biden is looking into camera, addressing America, and Trump is staring at Biden.

9:28: YES! Nail him with the šhìŧ he’s said in the past. “That was sarcastic?” Seroiusly? Now he’s trying to roll it back.

9:30: Again Biden is talking right at us. Good.

9:32: “Will he shush for a moment?” No, he won’t.

9:33: Trump is wrong. Covid has long-term effects, even on young people. Saying they’re immune to it is just wrong.

9:34: Yes, Fauci changed his approach on masks because that’s what scientists do, they learn and change. So you don’t dismiss the latest thing because they’ve learned things in between.

9:36: NO NEGATIVE EFFECT? Tell that to Herman Cain.

9:38: Oh yeah we’re doing record business. That’s why Disney has just announced it’s laying off 28,000 people.

9:40: And again, he can’t go two minutes without interrupting. They should really cut his mike.

9:41: “Excuse me, I should be allowed to ignore the rules to say whatever I want.” And no, Ohio isn’t very proud of him. Polls indicate he’s 9 points behind Biden.

9:43: He’s just saying the same old šhìŧ. “I paid millions.” “You’ll see my tax returns.” Yeah? Biden and Harris posted his.

9;44; Wait, so now he’s saying it’s OBAMA’S fault because of the tax codes? Seriously?

9:47: Why didn’t Biden do more when he was VP? Because McConnell did everything he could to prevent Obama from doing pretty much anything. God, the fact checkers are going to be going insane covering Trump’s slew of lies.

9:50: SHUT OFF HIS MIC!

9:54: Thank God Biden is going first. Let’s see if he can get through it uninterrupted.

9:54: Twenty-three seconds. That’s how long he was able to be quiet.

9:55: Go, Joe. Demolish him.

9:59: And he’s doing it again. Biden let him have his say and then Trump has to come back and start shouting again.

10:00: Race training is radical? I mean, I’d ask if he was insane, but we already know the answer.

10:03: Biden is starting to interrupt him, to do what Trump does. He should do it more, loudly, and frankly he should start using profanity. “Shut the fûçk up, dumb ášš.

10:10: He wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t tell the white supremacists to knock it off. Jesus.

10:12: No, he doesn’t. There are plenty of vets who can’t get help, who have been abandoned.

10:12: They left openings because McConnell blocked them all, you sack of šhìŧ.

10:14: That was indeed a rhetorical question because we know the answer: Trump cannot, will not keep his word or keep to a promise.

10:15: Give it to him, Biden. The part where he defended Beau is great. High point.

10:17: Once again, “people” believe something. People are against the Paris accord. Really? I’ve seen no one save for extreme Trumpies who endorse leaving the accord.’

10:18: Forest cities. He’s back on Endor.

10:27: Almost over. Thank God.

10:29: Jesus, Trump’s body language during that speech was appalling.

10:29: They’ve caught no one. No one. This is all total bûllšhìŧ. Plenty of Trump’s people have been caught and jailed. There is no fraud. No matter how much he claims it, it isn’t true.

10:35: Oh yeah, that’s not instigating trouble. Trump’s armed followers walking in and watching voters so they can scare people off. Great move.

10:38: God, unless they cut Trump’s mic, I’m not sure I can handle two more of these.

I remember the days when a week could go by and you wouldn’t even register the fact that we had a president, much less be aware of some stupid thing that he had said or done.  Unfortunately the past four years that hasn’t happened.  It seems not a week has gone by where Trump hasn’t found a way to lower the bar or one of his enablers has made an argument that just leaves you scratching your head and saying, “What?”

For instance, just today, Trump’s lawyer appeared before an appeals judge, trying to prevent the Manhattan DA from getting his hands on years of Trump’s financial records.  He contended that the DA’s warrant was overbroad.  At one point the judge reasonably asked, “Is there (any) request for documents that would not, in your view, be overbroad?” This was of course the attorney’s opportunity to present an argument as to what he considered permissible.  Instead he replied, “I think the answer is probably no, your honor.”  He literally would not tolerate or endorse ANY probe into Trump’s financial background:  not his tax returns, not his business records, nothing.  All the stuff that you and I would have to turn over if we were being investigated, Trump’s representatives believed Trump did not have to accommodate.

Meanwhile Trump has leftists and anyone who actually enjoys living in a democracy freaking out because he seems to be making it clear that he has no intention of relinquishing office.  His reluctance to do so certainly makes sense; there are enough investigations into his malfeasance to basically assure that he will probably end up in jail…something that I am convinced will never happen.  I am positive that if he winds up losing on November 3, and holding onto power seems hopeless, at some point in the next sixty days he’s going to head off to visit Saudi Arabia or Russia along with his entire family and will never return to the United States again.  Hëll, he might even leave Melania and Barron behind.  That could make it simpler, be less obvious.  

But so far he’s not the slightest bit interested in conceding that such a thing could happen.  When asked Wednesday if he would acknowledge that he had lost to Biden should the election skew  that way, he took a pause from his unsupported claims of voter fraud to state, “We’re going to have to see what happens.”  He then went on to say, “Get rid of the ballots and we’ll have a very peaceful..there won’t be a transfer frankly.  There’ll be a continuation.”  

“Get rid of the ballots.”

Once again, as he so often has before, Trump said the quiet part out loud.  Just as he did that time when he admitted that if we had genuine election reform and there was no voter interference, we’d never see another Republican voted into office.  Just as when he specifically said that his intention was to prevent the post office from doing its job and delivering properly mailed ballots. He admitted it out loud:  If we can just get rid of those annoying ballots that wanted to put Biden into office, he wouldn’t have to worry about the transfer of power because there wouldn’t be any.

Meanwhile Trump, six weeks out of election, is trying to bribe seniors by claiming he’s going to be sending out cards that will get them $200 off prescription drugs.  The $7 billion dollars required to pay for this undertaking is supposedly to come from savings that will come from Trump’s “most favored nations” drug pricing proposal.  Except it hasn’t been implemented yet, so the $7 billion doesn’t exist, and I’m reasonably sure that since Congress controls the purse strings, this is simply yet another empty Trump promise 

We are indeed so used to the unfulfilled promises that he makes that I think we’ve forgotten that he doesn’t really stick to anything he says.  That’s why, unlike many of my brethren, I do not give the slightest of dámņš over his reluctance to say that he won’t follow the wishes of the American public.  Because there is one truth about Trump that we must keep in mind:  He’s a bully.  And when faced with a genuine threat, a real fight, bullies always back down and run.

The election in Wisconsin some months ago, I think, put forward an indisputable truth:  Democrats have had enough and more than enough.  The GOP did everything they could to impede Democrats voting months ago and the Democrats STILL carried the day.  I think that’s what’s going to happen this time as well.  I think the will of Democrats is going to be so overwhelming that TV news is going to have no problem calling the votes.  I think it’s going to be a freaking landslide.  I think Biden is going to be elected by the largest majority in history, so much so that it won’t be necessary to count the mail-ins.  That Trump will be reduced to praying that the mailed ballots which he has been disparaging for the last year will save him, except they won’t.  I think, believe it or not, that Moscow Mitch McConnell spoke the absolute truth when he dismissed concerns that there wouldn’t be an orderly transition of power.  The reason he’s steamrolling forward with replacing RBG is that he’s convinced Trump will not remain in office and this is his last opportunity to stock the SCOTUS with a super majority, which has been his goal all along.  Indeed, he sold out democracy, his party, and his soul in order to achieve it.

I think we’re going to be rid of Trump.  Let’s just hope we’ll still have a country when he’s gone.

PAD

The state of Florida has historically been a place that has exhibited an undue influence on the rest of the country.  Most memorably it began with the election in the year 2000, where the entire presidency came down to a recount of the state’s dubious hanging chads that was suspiciously halted by the United States Supreme Court in an oddly reasoned decision that was designed to apply solely to that circumstance and none other.

From that point on, it seems that every odd story that comes to national attention has originated in Florida.  Whether it’s the stand-your-ground law that cost a hooded black teenager his life or, most recently, the state’s GOP governor transforming into the mayor of Amity Island and assuring the beaches would be open in the face of a pandemic/shark attack, something about Florida sparks disbelief and incredulity.  And what’s truly insane is that this state that seems populated by suicidal psychos is one of the half dozen states that’s going to decide who’s president this year (thanks to the Electoral College which mandates that a vote by someone in Florida or Wisconsin has more importance than someone in New York or California.)

To that end, Michael Bloomberg has pledged $100 million to the Joe Biden campaign to try and swing Florida solidly into the Biden camp.  Bloomberg is someone whom Donald Trump despises because he is in real life what Trump only pretends to be:  a successful billionaire businessman.  Bloomberg’s abortive attempt to run for the presidency came to a quick and ugly end, but Bloomberg has solidly pledged his support to Biden and is willing to fork over in one month more than most of us will probably earn for the entirety of our lives if it means depriving Trump of another four years and the country of a probably death knell. 

Nevertheless, although Bloomberg has more money than God, I’m reasonably sure he doesn’t have to spend that much and in such an amorphous way.  There is in fact something very specific that he can spend his money on which will doubtlessly kick Florida into the Biden column and hopefully seal the deal.

You see, in 2018 three quarters of the Florida electorate voted to overturn a law that prevented ex-felons from voting for the rest of their lives.  That is a pretty sizable majority; the voters clearly made their wishes known.  But Florida being Florida, voters making their voices heard is never enough, especially when the GOP controls the legislature.  Consequently, they instituted a new wrinkle by passing a law the following year requiring ex-felons to pay their court costs before being allowed to register to vote.  Opponents declared that it amounted to a poll tax, and initially the lower courts agreed.  Then the 11^th Circuit court of appeals—populated by six Trump appointees—refused to lift the ban, and subsequently the United States Supreme Court—with two Trump appointees—followed suit.  What it boils down to is that there are already 85,000 ex-felons registered who could be prosecuted if they vote and still owe court costs and fines.  And the ex-felons who owe the money are too poor to pay it.

Gee…if only there were someone with a lot of money around who could handle the costs involved.  Someone who was ready, willing and able to donate millions of dollars to pull it off.

Hey, I know.  How about Michael Bloomberg?

Of course the Florida legislature, being GOP-run, didn’t actually provide any system or mechanism to determine how much money was owed.  They stated that it would take them six years—halfway through Trump’s proposed third term—to get that done.  Because of course the purpose wasn’t to get the money, it was to suppress votes, which is something the GOP excels at.

But Bloomberg has the money to thwart this.  He’s got a hundred million to spare?  All he needs to do is set up a fund designed to do one thing:  Pay the outstanding debts of the felons.  His money would serve as a $100 million guarantee.  “Let these guys vote and send me the bill.”  Done.

That would immediately free up 85,000 voters.  Voters who would be indebted to the Democratic party.  Voters who are all too well aware that the GOP passed a law specifically to stop them from voting.  Do you seriously believe they would vote for Trump?  Bush took Florida from Gore with 327 votes.  Those 85,000 voters would hand the state to Biden in a walk.

Which is what Bloomberg wants.

Why spend $100 million randomly for possible results when you can spend it directly and get exactly what you want?

PAD

Trump loves to compare himself to Barack Obama.  Actually he prides himself on endeavoring to undo everything that Obama accomplished, whether it involves removing all the protections that Obama put in place for the environment, terminating the DACA program, or going to court to try and do away with the Affordable Care Act in general and the abolishing of preexisting conditions in specific, while simultaneously claiming he’s doing the exact opposite.

Yet it’s worth comparing the publishing history of the two gentlemen when one wonders the following:  How many books are there by relatives of Barack Obama that called him a lying sociopath?  How many books are there by people who formerly worked for Obama and are now trashing him?   How many books are there about Obama by Bob Woodward which depart his studied journalistic impartiality and instead conclude, “When his performance as a president is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion:  (he) is the wrong man for the job.”  The answer is, of course, none.  No one is arguing that Obama did everything right, but everyone understands that he had genuine reasons for all that he did, most of which applied to the betterment of the American people.

Trump, on the other hand, does everything for one reason and one reason only:  to get reelected.  He didn’t downplay the pandemic to avoid panic; he loves panic.  Embraces it, runs on it.  He did it because he didn’t want to alarm the stock market, hurt the economy, and damage his reelection desires.  Yet amazingly he is so detached from reality that he told a woman questioner during a townhall meeting several days ago that he didn’t downplay the pandemic; that he in fact “up-played” it (yeah, that’s a word) even though less than a week ago the audiotape of him specifically telling Bob Woodward that he was downplaying it unspooled on national news.

Indeed, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks for Trump books.  A week ago Tuesday gave us “Betrayal” by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former chief fixer who once stated he would take a bullet for Trump.  Apparently the only Trump book not being published by Simon & Schuster, “Disloyal” gives us Cohen’s story, a fascinating tale that provides us a genuine point of view tale told by someone who was once a key member of the Trump cult.

Certainly Cohen makes ample use of a thesaurus.  Nothing can be overdescribed.  Early on he states “Reaching for a seat, I started to cry, a flood of emotions overwhelming me:  fear, anger, dread, anxiety, relief, terror.”  There’s constant examples of him trotting out a string of adjectives; why use one or two when nine will do?  Yet one must admit it is compelling reading.  Most people who have associated themselves with Trump and are now out of the loop are obsessed with providing excuses as to why they did what they did.  Cohen takes the opposite approach.  What might be instructive is the tale of his youth where, growing up in Brooklyn, he worked as a lifeguard in a club and made the acquaintance of mobsters.  That aspect of his youth is what drew him to Trump, who conducted himself just as the professional criminals of Cohen’s fondly remembered adolescence did.

Cohen makes no excuse for his bullying behavior, for his cover-ups, for his kowtowing to Trump.  Ignoring the pleadings of his siblings, his wife and children, he checked his morality at the door and did whatever was required to cover for Trump.  Whether it involved shutting down failing businesses, paying off Stormy Daniels, or fixing an MSNBC poll of top businessmen so that Trump would finish in the top ten rather than where he was initially tracking (#178), Cohen completely bought into the Trump brand and was willing to set aside everything from common sense to his soul in order to accommodate his boss.  He attributes it to Trump’s personal magnetism but also to his own weak will.  He knew what he was doing was wrong; he just didn’t care.  Not until he outlived his usefulness and Trump showed him to the door.  Even now, despite the fact that Trump’s people tried to make sure he stayed in jail so that he couldn’t promote his book, he admits that he still loves Trump.  It really does give us an inside look at the sort of personality that inspires the same type of devotion that Jim Jones was able to command of his followers, even though it cost them their lives.

Bob Woodward’s “Rage” is a book that plays in the other direction.  Trump obviously thought that he would be able to use that magnetism of his to get Woodward to produce a book that extolled his self-proclaimed virtues.  Over the course of eighteen interviews, we see Trump trot out a host of his untruths and dissembling, which Woodward then fact checks and finds are lies in the very next sentence.  Over and over Trump says something that’s not true and Woodward immediately states the actual fact. Trump obviously believed he could convince Woodward to set his ethics aside, just as he was able to convince Cohen and countless others to do.  Naturally he underestimated Woodward, who has written about every president since Nixon.  Trump thought he could get Woodward to knuckle under and was, of course, wrong.  Instead he was stupid enough to spend hours talking to Woodward on tape, saying what he really thought and sticking his head into the noose.  Woodward consistently pulls that noose tight.  He doesn’t do it vindictively or judgmentally until the very end when he states, as I quoted above, that Trump isn’t fit for office.  Which, of course, is indisputable.  As near as we can tell, the editorial process on this book must have been done with lightning speed, because the manuscript goes up until May of this year.  

Although the details of the men who tried to work for Trump and rein him in, only to be dismissed and humiliated on Twitter, are certainly fascinating, the most interesting sequences are the Woodward/Trump chats.  Woodward keeps trying to ask him thoughtful, meaningful questions while Trump constantly attempts to stick to the public declarations and fake claims (“I’ve done more for blacks than anyone since Lincoln!”) that we have heard incessantly in his “press conferences” and rallies. Woodward keeps trying to get Trump to look inward and Trump absolutely will not do it.  He admits no fault, will not acknowledge that any of the downward spiral of his presidency is his responsibility, and blames Democratic mayors, governors, protestors, Obama and Joe Biden for everything.  He presents his ban of travel from China as his stellar (and only, really) attempt to thwart the pandemic, claiming sole credit for the decision even though half a dozen scientists and experts in the room insisted that he should do it and he had to be talked into it (his subsequent recounting was that there were twenty people in the room all opposed to it and he was the only one who advocated it.). Let’s remember something:  Canada has banned Americans from entering their country, and while we’re clocking a thousand deaths a day, in the past week they’ve had zero.  Obviously there’s more to restraining the pandemic than forbidding entry.  It boils down to leadership, and Trump has provided none.  That is the conclusion that Woodward comes to, and that indeed anyone reading the book would come to.

Except for Trump himself, who declared the book was boring.  

You know what?  We could use a little boredom these days.

PAD

As I stated earlier this week, it’s hard to wrap oneself around the tragedy of September 11 anymore, since the three thousand people who died that day in the World Trade Center attack is the equivalent of three day’s worth of Covid fatalities.  In a quote attributed to Joseph Stalin, one death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.

So it’s somehow appropriate that this week we were presented with absolutely indefensible, indisputable, undeniable proof that Trump flat out lied to the American public during the first six months of the year.  In what is the ultimate validation of the oft asked question “Is Trump insane?” this week we got the definitive answer of “Yes.”  Because we learned that back in February he was nuts enough to speak on tape to Bob Woodward.  That’s right, Bob Woodward, one of the two reporters in the world who has “Brought Down a President” on his CV.   Trump wouldn’t speak to Robert Mueller, but sitting down with Woodword for a convo (one of eighteen, we’re told) has certainly got to be the PR equivalent.  

In that conversation, sounding astoundingly honest and sincere, Trump sat there and said the exact opposite of what he then went out and told the American people.  While informing reporters that it was no worse than the flu, he told Woodward that it most certainly was.  That he was downplaying the severity because he wanted to avoid panicking the American people.  It was easily the most laughable claim he’s ever made.  He rules entirely by fear, and is incessantly trying to induce panic, whether he’s asserting that a caravan of criminal rapist refugees are heading toward the border or that Democrats want to allow people of color to move into your neighborhood (horrors!).   Of all the literally unbelievable things he has ever said, this tops the list.  

Of course, it could be argued that he was referring to a stock market panic.  That is his greatest concern, after all.  But no, on Wednesday he held a press conference (actually a mini-rally) in which he emphasized that he was worried about the state of mind of, well, you and me.

“When Hitler was bombing London, Churchill, a great leader, would oftentimes go to a roof in London and speak.  And he always spoke with calmness.  He said we have to show calmness.  No, we did it the right way.  We’ve done a job like nobody.”  That was Trump’s defense, which of course totally missed the point:  To behave as Trump did, Churchill would have had to say to the British people, “The bombing is going to go away.  Don’t bother turning off your lights and huddling in the dark.  Keep everything lit up, go about your business, and if you hear an air raid siren, just ignore it.”  Trump, a sociopathic liar, openly admitted that he felt the best way to deal with the virus was to lie to the American people about it.  To tell them to do the exact opposite of what was required in order to stem the tide of the disease.  To him, this was a strategy.  Deny, deny, deny, and wait for it to go away.

He can’t help himself.  He literally can’t help it.  Talk was finally starting to cool on the “Atlantic” article which detailed his disdain for people in military service, and on Monday he held a press conference where he brought the whole thing up again.  Indeed, he made it worse.  First, he claimed the rank and file soldiers love him (I’m betting they don’t) and then went on to say, “The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t (fans) because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the plans and make everything else stay happy.”  Yes, that’s right, in the world of Trump, the infantrymen who lay down their lives are suckers, unless they get caught—then they’re losers—and their bosses are all warmongers, dedicated to lining the pockets of the military industrial complex.  I mean, I get that he only cares about appealing to his base, but what is it about his psychosis that requires him to try and make everyone who isn’t in his base revile him all the more?  Doesn’t he understand that there are independents out there who might still be swayed to his side.  Why actively try to turn them off?  Does this man who was raised in an atmosphere of “win at all costs” actually want to lose?

Indeed, he’s hurting himself so badly that his campaign is running short on funds and he is ostensibly considering forking over up to $100 million of his own money.  I can absolutely guarantee you that won’t happen.  Never.  Trump stiffs everyone.  Doesn’t matter if it was contractors for his properties or city police forces that provided protection; Trump is a cheap bášŧárd who never pays his bills.  

Meanwhile as all this was happening, the Justice Department has stepped into the defamation suit filed by E. Jean Carroll, the woman who stated that Trump raped her decades ago in a Manhattan department store.  In a demented conflict of interest, the JD has declared that Trump’s denials of a crime he is accused of committing in the previous century somehow is relevant to his current status as president.  What that boils down to is that you and I, as taxpayers, are now footing the bill for Trump’s defense.  And if Carroll wins, whatever money she is paid winds up coming from tax dollars.  So basically Bill “Lower the” Barr has taken his boss off the financial hook.  Indeed, for all we know, Trump wasn’t paying his lawyers and they were ready to bow out, so Barr stepped in to save the day because that’s what a patsy does.  

Just ask Michael Cohen. 

I’ve read his book.  I’ll write about it next week.

PAD