I have to watch this season of Coronapalooza every day. There’s always a twist and you never see it coming. Where do they get the writers?!
So today, the Feds rolled out their new plan to re-open the country to commerce and myrth. It has 3 stages, each getting more permissive of what types of behavior and by how many will be deemed “safe”. Dr. Fauci described Stage 3 as the “new normal”, at least until there is a vaccine. Stage 3 did not include the possibility of mass gatherings like sporting events or concerts.
That was too much for the President. He took back the podium and raged that the new normal would be the old normal but even better! It’s not good enough that a restaurant that used to serve 158 (clearly he had a particular restaurant in mind) be able to serve 30 or 60. They have to fill every seat. Alabama has to sell all 100,000+ of its seats for football. That has to be the new normal. Is this more of POTUS being aspirational? Because if it’s not it is clearly insane. The last question asked was about how many tests will we need to be enough to know when to open? Trump said nothing, turned and left the stage. The constant inquiries about data and justifications for strategy were too much. He was disgusted that the press was not understanding he was now not to be questioned. He simply walked away.
After creating the new and somewhat seriously considered 3 Stage opening of the country, the ink wasn’t dry on the black, blue and white document before the President had attacked it. Half empty stadiums don’t get them excited in Alabama. Thirty percent unemployment doesn’t either. He will sacrifice absolutely anything, short of something that impacts him personally, to open the country and turn the fortunes of his economy back around. Even you, or me.
The machine has been turned on, though the rollout has stumbled a bit. Dr Oz appeared on Fox and thought the idea of getting schools open as a leading gambit to the reopening of the country as “appetizing”. He thought that the 2-3% mortality rate was probably acceptable for the gains to the economy and to the kids futures and well being. Not sure he fully considered how that would land on the ears of parents with school aged children. On these pages I already mentioned Bill O’Reilly’s justification for taking the risk. Most of these folks were on their last legs anyway. That didn’t have a lot of fanmail (though this being Trumpworld it did have some). Assistant to the President as Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, Peter Navarro made the mistake of issuing a challenge to 60 Minutes that they could not produce evidence that anyone was particularly concerned about this in the past three or more administrations. Well, as you can imagine they had plenty and that visit on mainstream media was a disaster.
Trump is running into the same problem. He has settled into a fairly predictable pattern now. It seems crazy, at first. He will make some incredible assertion one day, like “absolute authority” as an example, and then overnight he gets pounded from all sides, even from some of his own, and they come up with a walk back strategy for the new day’s episode. This is all done with no acknowledgement of the previous day’s insanity, just here’s what I said all along. Then he will introduce a new insane pronouncement that is not rooted in reality, presenting it as the accepted way it is.That goes well until the questions come, and the melt down will lead to the next insane pronouncement, and repeat.
But each day someone is getting to him. Boss, it didn’t work. We have to walk it back. Seems crazy.
What Trump knows is that what his followers heard yesterday was never rescinded. Not for them. Today He has absolute authority AND He can open and close states AND happy days of full stadiums and rock and roll are right around the corner. Nothing gets walked back there, nothing found factually wanting. They will act on His words, too. They did in Michigan. They did in Charlottesville. They will again. He is their leader. If he shakes hands, they shake hands. No mask? No problem. Being shut behind closed doors? Scared about what’s coming? He will teach you that you have been victimized, abused, but help is on the way. Only He can help. Now that he has absolute authority it should all be a piece of cake. Go Red Sox!!!
While you and I might cringe, others are all in. This is the 2020 campaign narrative in a nutshell. Either he is the guy that is going to save everyone from disaster, or he IS the disaster. Joe Biden will be the recipient of this referendum, for good or ill.
Trump is depending on the bully pulpit to be decisive, and he might be right. He has the bulliest pulpit in history! Coronapalooza IS getting incredible ratings, and not everyone is bringing a cynical eye to it. Some see a guy getting picked on, abused by a press that just makes stuff up. I’m steeped in this stuff daily. It both matters to me and fascinates me. For some it’s as simple as the guy they voted for is getting hammered. He has to hammer back. That’s all. Nothing to see. But people are watching. He either wins big with the exposure or he goes down in a public humiliation. Not much middle ground.
Joe is doing a shout out from his basement or some other area of his home, being an example for what we all need to do, even when you have a lot on the line. The other view was the President was out there, He wasn’t afraid of sh*&. Take it from there. But advantage goes to the President, and a huge one that is complete with campaign videos and campaign slogans, all being presented during the daily Coronavirus update. Shameless, but he has a daily chance to shape the narrative, build his reality. And he does.
He is fully aware of this. The irony is that he has so many advantages, and a crisis of this type is usually a huge boost to the President because in some way they rise to it, some in large ways, others in more temporal ones. He could have been someone. He could have been a contender. The one chance he had in his life to be the real hero, and he dropped the ball. Tragic, really. He would have been a hero to millions had he taken this seriously from the outset, put in agressive mitigation measures right away, developed a coordinated Federal response. George W. was limping along in the early part of his presidency having “won” the election by SCOTUS fiat. People were still uncomfortable with the way it ended, but 9/11 gave him credibility for a short time, allowed the country to rally around his leadership in a time of crisis. He ultimately fumbled all of that away, but that isn’t the point. He was elevated by his attempts to rise to the occaision. Trump couldn’t do that. He fumbled the ball at the handoff. His approval ratng has dropped by six points in a month. While his base celebrates the daily puffery and cruelty, the rest of us are not amused. These daily appearances by the President are driving the electoral narrative, and so far Trump is taking a huge advantage and turning it against himself.
Looking forward to the nest episode. What will they think of next?