“In a real sense, all life is interrelated. The agony of the poor impoverishes the rich; the betterment of the poor enriches the rich. We are inevitably our brother’s keeper because we are our brother’s brother. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Time in Trumpistan moves as fast as a tornado and as slow as molasses. Fast in the tumult of Trump’s infantile and incompetent response to Covid-19, the staged assault on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square on June 1, the deployment of heavily armed, unidentified, Federal agents in Portland, the lies and corruption and outright lunacy of Trump and the miscreants who surround him. But ever so slow as the nation staggers toward Election Day, less than 100 days hence, and one day runs into the next, not a carbon copy, but similar, with the latest Covid numbers the priority. Is our county up, down or flat? What’s going on statewide, where’s the latest hot spot, where are deaths rising? What’s Congress doing or not doing to help states and citizens weather this storm?
And of course we are forced to endure the daily spectacle of Trump himself, the bloated leader of our Covid-19 battered banana republic, bragging about his mental acuity on national television. Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. Trump’s new mantra. Bonus points (only in Trump’s withered brain) awarded for reciting the words in order. Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. So proud is Trump of his achievement that even as the American death toll from the pandemic reaches 150,000, he can’t stop talking about it. “I passed a test! I finally passed a test, all on my own, with no help and no cheating!”
Journalist Mehdi Hasan called out the irony. When it comes to Covid-19, a lethal pandemic, Americans look in vain for a coordinated federal response. But when it comes to protecting federal property from graffiti in Portland, behold, the federal response is not only coordinated, it’s jackbooted, long on shock and raw force. When it comes to dispersing protesters from Lafayette Square so Trump can stage a photo opportunity for his reelection campaign, the federal response is not only coordinated, it’s choreograhped by William Barr to portray Trump as the triumphant protector of law and order. The pandemic bores Trump because it’s too complicated, like the algebra he never could fathom. Unleashing BORTAC -- the shock troops of the Customs & Border Patrol -- against American citizens exercising their first amendment right is not only easier, it provides immediate gratification and satisfies Trump’s sadism.
So proud is Trump of his achievement that even as the American death toll from the pandemic reaches 150,000, he can’t stop talking about it. “I passed a test! I finally passed a test, all on my own, with no help and no cheating!”
(Here’s a random thought: how does Jared Kushner react when Trump summons Ivanka to the Residence at 2:30 a.m., with instructions to report in high heels and a black negligee?)
In all this turmoil and madness, Trump’s commutation of Roger Stone’s prison sentence, on the very same day Stone asked for it, has gone down the memory hole. The GOP is a lost cause, so of course not a soul from that doomed vessel sounded a dissent. Hypocrisy, cowardice and silence is now standard procedure in the GOP Death Cult. But where the hell are the Democrats? The Stone commutation was obviously payback for his loyalty. It was the Trump crime family taking care of its own. The timing and context are clear. The commutation was a crime. Where’s the outrage? Jerry Nadler’s committee had Attorney General Barr on the stand and in the main failed to land a significant blow. Barr is a seasoned Washington fixer, he knows the game, how to parse, dodge, obfuscate, duck, parry and counter. Barr is the Pillsbury doughboy’s evil twin. The Democrats had plenty of opportunities to hammer at Barr’s mendacity and subversion of the rule of law, his craven and comprehensive dereliction of duty, but for the most part let the chance pass.
Trump knows he’s staring defeat at the polls in the face, and his gut impulse dovetails with his tactics over the past three and a half years: toss even bloodier hunks of red meat to his base of true believers (his recent remarks about saving Suburbia from people of color), his focus on Law & Order, and his empty threat to postpone the November election based on fear of massive voter fraud. With intent and malice Trump is tossing seeds of delegitimization to the wind, hoping to harvest a crop of Doubt after November 3.
If that’s not sobering enough, imagine if Joe Biden wins the election but the GOP retains control of the Senate.
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