Asking journalists to moderate a presidential debate is like asking ballplayers to umpire the World Series. Yes, they know the game, but no, they’re neither trained nor qualified to call balls and strikes. Even then, baseball umpires have a relatively easy job compared to, say, basketball referees. On the hardwood, refs have to deal with rapid-fire challenges and players who whine about every call they make.
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Trump had to preserve the illusion, the mirage that he was a “winner,” at any cost. So, he stopped bluffing. He was so intent on “proving” he had a winning hand, that he actually showed it every time new cards were dealt. He showed his affinity for white racism and absurd conspiracy theories, and his disdain for science and health care. In the process, he’s kept throwing Republican chips toward the center of the table.
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Some obsessive exes stalk their targets, and Trump’s certainly doing this: He’s telling his supporters to “monitor” polling places, enlisting them as his proxy stalkers. But other obsessive exes don’t stop there. They attack and even kill their targets. That’s what Donald Trump is trying to do to our values and our democracy, because if he can’t have us, nobody can.
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Why should I care about someone who doesn’t care about his fellow human beings? Or only cares about the service some of them perform by licking his filthy, blood-stained boots? Why should I care about the health of someone who doesn’t care about mine? About 7 million-plus people in this country who’ve contracted this “plague,” as you call it? Or even about your own followers, whom you’ve guilt-tripped and ridiculed if they dare to wear masks in your holy presence?
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In the wake of Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, some will respond with the politically correct response and wish him a speedy recovery. Others will talk about karma: He got what he deserved. But sympathy isn’t the point here. Sympathy hasn’t saved 207,000 lives in this country in the face of the continued efforts, led by Trump, to downplay the virus. Neither has karma. Only one thing could have saved them. A sober, intelligent, conscientious response.
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Donald Trump told a white racist group to “stand back and stand by” during the first presidential debate. Other than Trump’s steamroller-on-steroids approach to his (so-called) debate with Joe Biden, it was the big news Tuesday night. But language is a tricky thing. It’s easy to misspeak in the heat of battle, especially with so many words being shot from the hip. So was Trump’s comment on race just verbal shrapnel?
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