The Donald wanted us to know that he is not a doctor, so he’s just thinking out loud, you know, but he’s got a great brain, so he was probably right.
A report was presented that made a connection between elevated levels of heat, humidity and UV light and reduction of the novel coronavirus. They seemed to effect the half life of the virus on specific types of surfaces. The report was presented by the Under-Secretary for Science and Technology for the Dept. of Homeland Security, William Bryan. Before taking the position he served in the Depts. of Energy and Defense, and interestingly specialized in the Ukraine. His credentials for this job seem dubious, but that was today’s “expert”. Trump was clearly excited about this, wanting to believe that the summer was just going to be great. He was nearly giddy at the prospect, but not willing to let nature take its course, he wondered if introducing UV light or disinfectants into the body could be a cure. He directed the questions to the experts on the sidelines, and after retrieving their jaws from the carpet, they tried to answer the question without laughing out loud, attempting to respond as if it should be seriously responded to.
Can you imagine how dismissive people would be if you suggested a nice big swig of Lysol just might be the ticket? In his imagination, the folks watching would be amazed at his inciteful, outside the box thinking that The Great One was capable of. Why hadn’t the experts thought of this stuff? Thank God Donald is our President!
The last time he made a full throated endorsement of a miracle cure you wound up with one dead and one on life support next to their aquarium. Now granted, these two people were tragically stupid, but that’s the point, isn’t it? When you’re the President you are going to have people that are your closest followers that just aren’t that bright. We aren’t the most educated populace in the world, and under Betsy Devos we are dumbing down even quicker. As the leader of the country you have to factor that in when addressing the adoring crowds.
Now the dumb ones won’t notice this. How awesome the President is spitballing some ideas, strategies to pursue. If only he had time to actually be in the lab all day. We’d be back to work on Monday!
The even modestly educated people surely thought they heard him incorrectly. Or perhaps he had been joking? There has to be some explanation, because there is no way he was really excited about these ludicrous suggestions. Most of us are pretty sure mainlining Lysol won’t end up well.
When I have mentioned this to people that missed today’s briefing they consistently respond with things like “What!?” “You’re joking.” “He said that? Seriously?” and variations on that theme. It is so preposterous it simply doesn’t make sense when you first hear it, or you don’t believe it. I watched it and I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t.
But there was more. There always is.
He was asked about Dr. Fauci’s statement Wednesday night when he said we are not where we need to be on testing. He said he disagreed with Dr. Fauci. Fauci isn’t speculating, he is a numbers guy. He’s not running for anything, not trying to get anything from us except our trust, but tomorrow there will be a new group of people that think Dr. Fauci works for the Deep State. The death threats he’s been receiving during this crisis will ratchet up. Trump provided no justification, no reasoned rebuttal. He simply said “I don’t agree with Dr. Fauci” and moved on to the next question.Trump’s poll numbers will likely remain unchanged.
Phillip Rucker is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Washington Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, and he wondered if promoting rumors or speculations about cures and treatments was wise when people will take his words with more gravity. The President immediately melted down and attacked the Post as fake news and Rucker as one of the worst, all he wrote was fake. And so on. It was kind of amusing to watch, because Rucker has been on the trail for 15 years. As Trump lost it, Rucker’s face never changed. It had no effect on him, just listened to the unhinged rant, a neutral observer to what has become normal, and then calmly looked down as he took some notes in his journal.
Next up a journalist quizzed him about Kim Jong Un and the Leader’s health condition. Trump didn’t know, but it seems the whole thing might have been a hoax stirred up by, who else, CNN. Yeah, they made up the whole thing. Fake news by a fake news network. Then he refused to call on CNN for the rest of the briefing.
For a long time I didn’t understand why the President would take these enormous risks. He doesn’t know the condition of the North Korean leader, but he heard something from someone somewhere and that’s that. But what happens if we get the announcement of the Dear Leader’s demise? He is clearly revealed as a thorough fraud. Won’t that undermine his credibility?
But it doesn’t and he knows it. His folks just love that he get’s pissed off at the people they don’t like. They don’t care if it’s true, just that it IS! He did it with the birth certificate. Totally punked, They didn’t care so they elected him. During this crisis he has done it repeatedly. He spent a month assuring the public it was no big deal, under control, not that scary anyway, it will go away in the spring. None of it true, we know it wasn’t true now. Hydroxy-chloroquine was the miracle cure. Well, not so much it seems. Getting caught in lies is so commonplace that neither he nor his base seem to even notice it. Truth wasn’t the point. It never has been. This has been about scorched earth, punishment for enemies, retribution. I believe that is the heart of this Trump thing, both for him and those that love him.
One other point of interest in this briefing was the disintegration of the love affair between the President and Governor Kemp of Georgia. Just Wednesday the President was admitting that he and the Governor had disagreements about what they were doing about opening up Georgia, but he was still a great guy. Trump crowed about how he had gotten the Governor elected even though the Obamas and Oprah stumped for the opponent. He loved the Governor, doing a great job, but he disagreed with how far they were going in Georgia, but it’s up to the Governor.
Certainly something had changed overnight, because in today’s briefing POTUS was clearly angry with the Governor now. No data points had changed, but the relationship sure had crumbled. Trump showed outright contempt for the Governor. They had spoken on the phone today and that is surely where things collapsed, but we can only speculate what was said. So I will. I imagine someone close to Trump said that if Kemp opens up wide and it goes south, and there is a high risk of that, the left will crucify him for it. Probably true. We would. In the call I imagine Trump telling Kemp he’s got to back down on what he is allowing to open. Follow the guidelines. When Kemp said no, Trump told him he had to turn his back on him, like that scene in Goodfellas when Henry asks Paulie for help. Sorry Henry, you’re on your own. The divorce has turned acrimonious. Always sad to witness the end of a love affair. Pure speculation of course, but I’ll betcha.
All of this may have had an effect. The usual POTUS enablers that I have on my FB feed are strangely quiet tonight. Nowhere to be found. Today’s humiliating performance, this unique display of intellectual vacuity, was a terrifying confirmation of his well rounded inabilities. But it wasn’t that much different than any of the briefings that have come before. This continuous onslaught of reckless irresponsibility is cumulative. The dude is wearing folks down! I said it yesterday, but Joe Biden’s best strategy seems to be to let Trump do the heavy lifting of his own demise. He seems to be up to the job. He attacked “Sleepy Joe” who he said was hiding in his basement and using Covid-19 as an excuse for not engaging and debating. A debate before his being officially made the candidate at a national convention would be, at the very least, unseemly. But that’s a detail.
Please vote. This has to end.