Bruce Arthur writes that the pandemic has exposed our world as it is. We can no longer look at it through rose coloured glasses:
The pandemic is a mirror, and we suddenly see ourselves for what we are: a world that runs on the grind of low-paid workers while Jeff Bezos aims to become a trillionaire; a country whose government must be the most important safety net; a province that would like to send our kids to school, but also not kill anybody while doing so. Yeah, Ontario made the right call on the schools.
And into the midst of all the ugliness strides the Ugliest American:
The pandemic provides a grimmer clarity: it is showing that Trump is exactly what he is, and always was: an unshakably dumb septuagenarian con man, completely unable to grasp even basic concepts, able only to stride through life through bulls---, yet absolutely confident that he is correct.
It’s not that he is merely a bad person. He is, of course. He is a human Twinkie, unnaturally toasted and filled to the brim with all-white racism and venal resentment. He is definitely that.
Now he insists that hydroxychloroquine is the cure the world has been looking for:
Hydroxychloroquine cuts to the core of Trump, even if there is no proof he is actually taking the drug, other than his word. This drug doesn’t even work as a snake-oil miracle cure anymore except with the absolute rubes, and reality is coming.
How did Trump become fixated on the drug?
The most likely explanation is hydroxychloroquine planted itself in Trump’s mashed potato brain, and it can’t be uprooted. His doctor might be giving him a placebo, but some things stick in there. As journalist Joshua Green reported in his book “Devil’s Bargain,” Trump’s advisers used a border wall with Mexico as a metaphorical trick to make him remember to talk about immigration in campaign speeches. Four years later, he’s still trying to get a real one built.
So the unreality isn’t new, but then you realize the difference. Before this, Trump’s lunacy and incompetence endangered other people. But he’s so dumb he can put himself at risk, too. Yes, this is the president who stared at a solar eclipse without protective glasses, who has refused to wear a mask, who ignored physical distancing even as members of the White House tested positive for the coronavirus all around him.
None of the stupidity is an act, even as political reporters still work to make him a normal president. He might be a few weeks from drinking bleach to prove a point.
Insanity itself sits in the White house.
Image: lightbringers.net
8 comments:
I would put stupidity ahead of insanity as Dump surely is the most stupid, lacking in any leadership or other qualities whatsoever to ever hold office. In my other comment I expressed my fear that he is heading for a second term, surely he will cheat and use whatever means necessary- he is doing everything he can to suppress mail in ballots one that will make or break turn out. Low voter turn out is his best friend. BC Waterboy
Trump and the Republicans know that the majority of Americans despise them, waterboy. So their whole strategy is to suppress the majority.
Brace yourself. I listened to this on the morning BBC global news podcast. Team Trump is unveiling a new campaign just in time for the Memorial Day weekend. It seems to be originating out of treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin's brigade and appears to draw on the techniques of the RJ Reynolds/fossil fuel industries playbook.
It's a multi-faceted attack on the effort to halt the spread of Covid-19, especially the lockdowns. One argument goes that, while government pours all these trillions of dollars into the pandemic effort, other lethal threats such as cancer, the opioid crisis, etc. are languishing and, deprived of funds, many are needlessly dying. Another one is that, while people are avoiding the virus by staying home, isolation is taking a toll in depression and suicides.
The most deplorable argument is that it's a "now or later" effort at best. The lockdowns are doing nothing to fend off the inevitable. They're just slowing the rate of death. You may think you're safe but the Grim Reaper is standing just outside your door and, sooner or later, you'll be toast. You're wrecking the economy just to buy yourself a little more time. Don't worry, be happy. Party like there's no tomorrow because, for you, there won't be even if you hide like a frightened girl in front of your TV set.
Like all of these scams one argument contradicts another. The "abandon all hope" theme of Mnuchin's campaign seems to put paid to Trump's boastful claims that a vaccine is just around the corner and coming at what Trump describes as "warp speed."
Americans are on The Titanic, Mound. And the iceberg is dead ahead.
Great minds, Owen. I penned a version of this comment on my blog and I also made the Titanic reference. "Nearer My God To Thee" indeed.
It's an old story, isn't it, Mound? Hubris always reaps the same harvest.
.. I always find myself in Spiccoli.. in Fast Times At Ridgemont High.. he was a flunker.. but the coolest guy on the planet.. and when push came to shove.. he showed his slacker genius.. an intrinsic talent.. light years ahead of everybody.. Trump, Gorka, McConnell, Hannity could not lace up his sneakers. Where others flamed out.. he soared & rolled a J one handed, goin down th road
When we needed Spicolla.. we got Scheer or Oklamomy Rempel. Needing patriotic, the USA got pedantic fascist assfart Gorka. Needing a 'hero' Alberta got a shite sandwich, whitebread Wonderloaf Kenney and trashed Ms Notely. USA needing Teddy Roosvelt got President Clump.. now dosing on the wrong kind of 'hydro' .. So groovy man.. Its like a bad movie with no Spicolla.. Its Bill and Ted's Most Excellent Adventure.. but stuck in the bathroom and puking.. 'dry heaves' .. and Obama was mean to them.. Cry me a river.. Needing some wicked 'freelances' we got spagetti that boiled over.. no Spicolli
When all was said and done, sal, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure ended well. I don't think this one will.
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