I've said about all I care to about the debate debacle, other than to reiterate that they better get things under control for the next one, assuming there's even going to be a next one I suppose it could all depend on the president's condition going forward.
And if the president is still in the hospital, will Mike Pence be able to debate Kamala Harris next week, or will he be too busy acting as the president (well, hopefully, acting better than the president...)? That's probably our only chance for a real debate, and to think it might be lost...
On the president and the First Lady being diagnosed with COVID-19, I've got lots of thoughts, but first, a confession right off the bat: I have, off and on throughout the day, both laughed at and made inappropriate comments regarding the president's diagnosis. I don't wish him any harm, really - I want him out of office, that's a well-known fact, but I shouldn't be laughing at the karma or the fact that he brought this on himself by not doing the right thing, and about Melania having to quarantine with him, and other thoughts that, quite frankly, are representative of how HE treats people than the way that I like to treat people. And I shared those thoughts with two of my most irreverent friends who, if they ever publish our text messages, will make true our surmisal that we're going to end up in hell.
OK - confession over, on to the thoughts.
I shouldn't be surprised at how many people who have never publicly offered a single thought or prayer for anyone who's been infected with the virus, and who have been quoting the president almost verbatim from the very beginning, whether it was on minimizing the virus, mocking people who wear masks, calling out the scientists for trying to bring the president down, or any number of other ridiculous comments, are now calling on everyone to flood the first couple with tons of both. I find that hypocritical, I really do.
It's also interesting how many people who have never uttered a conspiracy theory in their life are contemplating that this whole thing could be a fake-out by the president and his handlers, an attempt to get him under lockdown, off the TV cameras, off the phone with the folks on Fox, and off Twitter, so people will stop talking about him, the debate, and the damage that Tuesday night did to the campaign?
Is this his way of not having to do additional debates? Of not being told he can't hold his beloved rallies because he refuses to respect local restrictions on large gatherings? Is this the way the president can not lose, but go out #winning instead?
Or is it just a way to get those suburban women voters, the ones who worry about their parents, their children, their friends at church getting the virus? After all, if the president comes through this well, and quickly, that only adds fuel to his fire that the virus is nothing to fear, and that businesses and schools and everything else that's closed or partially so should reopen.
And how horrible is it, that the president and his entire administration have lied to us so many times that those thoughts, or other similar ones, can actually be entertained by reasonable people? How much trust have people lost in the president, the presidency, the White House? And will we ever get that trust back again?
We also had a release of the president's taxes, and an analysis by the NY Times that Trump paid less in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 than I spent on ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, or cat litter during the same time period - and that his measly $750 tax payments may have been perfectly legal. And, more frighteningly, that he's got some $420 million in debts and loans coming do during a potential second term. Who he owes that money to is still up in the air - we will not find out until after the election, we're told.
We've also been told that Melania doesn't much like her responsibilities for decorating the White House for Christmas, and that she doesn't like being called complicit in her husband's policies. Those things we learned because the First Lady was secretly taped by a former staffer (and friend of more than a decade). There's a book, of course. There's always a book. I've said it before and it becomes more true almost daily: if nothing else, the administration has been good for book contracts.
TGIF, everyone - and wear your damn mask.
It was an interesting week, to be sure. My thoughts...
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch the debate because I never watch debates. However, 45 minutes after it started, I saw interesting things on Twitter about it. Not shocked at all, but it was interesting in the following days how the "moderator" was condemning the orange man for messing things up... on Faux Spews no less. That was entertaining.
Then the orange man and his wife contracted the disease, and at this point so have 3 Repug senators who were all at a garden party at the White House... and there's probably more to come (since we're not sure where Hope picked it up). I have no sympathy for anyone who condemned mask wearing and were irresponsible in not trying to protecting themselves and others. I hope they're in great discomfort and pain, but I can't go further and say I hope anyone expires; that's not my nature.
The other stuff... it was entertaining, but none of it will mean much until after the election, when the orange guy has no one who can protect him any longer. That's when the real disgrace begins...
I hope you're right on the post-election stuff; maybe Bill Barr will become his new Michael Cohen? And I certainly agree, I don't have any sympathy for him on the COVID, because of his cavalier attitude and absolute refusal to consider anyone other than himself. I didn't wish him dead, or even great pain, but I was unkind in other ways, for sure.
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