David Frum, writing in The Atlantic about Donald Trump*’s two plans for dealing with the coronavirus:
Either he pushes the country to trade poor people’s lives for the pursuit of economic recovery, or he gets a cable-TV culture war to distract his supporters from the troubles he himself aggravated by his own negligence.
President Trump’s bad leadership has inflicted terrible hardship on Americans. Trump’s Plan A is to use the pain of that hardship to justify more bad leadership. His Plan B is to use the pain as a way to shift odium: Don’t blame me, the guy who failed to prepare for the pandemic. Blame the governors who are now forced to respond to my failure. . . .
Both Trump’s Plan A and Plan B intend to turn American against American, in an ugly spirit of rancor and resentment. In pandemic as in prosperity, the Trump way is to punish opponents, reward friends; accuse victims, protect culprits; demand credit, refuse accountability; protect preferred classes and groups of Americans — and sacrifice the rest.
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Note that’d he’s demanding the “liberation” of Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin (all have Democrats as governors) but not Ohio, which has a Republican governor and lockdown measures even more extreme than those other states.
The transparency is incredible. The small-business money (detailed in the Frum piece) also shows that his administration plays favorites. As with ventilators.
You are right about the transparency, Michael, and that's exactly the vexing and horrible thing. We almost all understand that something like what Frum describes is the plan, but we're seemingly powerless to stop it. It occurs to me that the effect is similar to what pollsters find when they ask about firsts. Many people say that they are perfectly willing to vote for the first black, gay, or female president. They just doubt that their neighbors are willing to do so. In the same way, we see these obscene press rallies where it is obvious that the president is deflecting blame and trying to save his skin, and we think it must be clear to everyone. But we secretly worry that our neighbors will fail to see it that way. And too often, we're right.
Some of my neighbors (not literally, but close enough) protested over the weekend at the Wisconsin Capitol for the right, I guess, to be exposed to the virus. That's liberation?
“Press rallies” is a perfect description.
At a time like this, it’s hard not to think of Jonestown. To us, the leader looks like a sociopath. But followers, at least some of them, listen when speaks. Pass the aquarium cleaner, please.
I’m going to make a post about these rallies in the near future, right after I call my mom and make a cup of tea.
Rallies? I meant protests.
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