Dear America,
A new Bob Woodward book is just being published, and the publicity about it starts with something Trump said in one of a dozen taped interviews. In the book Trump says that he minimized the danger of the corona virus because he wanted to avoid public panic, but he knew the virus was dangerous. Obviously, he would put his disassembling in the best light he could think of with his limited intelligence without contemplation of the negative implications of his claim, which are amply manifested in our current situation and after the woeful losses of life and health they caused. But while it seems obvious to anyone who is not a blind Trump supporter that claiming that the impending pandemic was "a hoax" or "the latest Democratic hoax" even though he knew it was dangerous was not protective of anyone but him. He was running on the strength of the economy, and a pandemic would be inimical to its continuing vigor. That's why he minimized the danger not just the United States, but the world as a whole, was facing. In his little mind, he probably thought that if he didn't talk about it, no one else would, and hence it would go unnoticed. The best laid plans of mice and mental midgets often go awry. But if that is the extent of the Woodward book's damnation of Trump, it's of such little impact that the book is hardly worth reading. Like its predecessor "tell all" books--Comey's, the third party account of Trump's impious conduct by Michael Wolf, and now that of Trump's niece, the doctor of psychology--there's nothing new in them that anyone who listens to the news or reads the paper doesn't already know. The book of Trump's former personal attorney is also coming out, so we can hope that there is something new in it, but I doubt it. Everyone in the world knows what Trump is, and what he does always comes out, so there isn't much hope that there will be an October surprise in any book about him.
What bothers me isn't that the things he does aren't shocking anymore. After almost four years of his duplicity, petty vindictiveness, bullying and so on, how could anything surprise anyone, even Trump supporters. No, what bothers me is that nothing that comes to light can change the mind of anyone who intends to vote for him in November. It's all tolerable to them, and until lately, I have wondered why, but now I think I know. All these claims of approval for him because he speaks his mind are bogus. They are just subterfuge for the fact that they believe not what he says, what he believes, and they would be ashamed to admit it. He lies about everything, including his beliefs, and that is obvious from his conduct, but his supporters can wrap themselves in those lies just as they wrap themselves in the flag. He said he wanted immigration reform, but when two senators came to him with a plan that he promised to sign before it was even a choate idea, he refused because it didn't have funding for his famous wall. He promised health care better than "Obamacare," but nothing came of that either, so he just persisted in trying to get the Affordable Care Act legally abolished with nothing in its place. (What he really dislikes about it is the name, Obamacare. If it had been called Romneycare because Romney actually presided over the passage of such a plan in Massachusetts, or better yet, Trumpcare, Trump would have been alright with it.) He was going to promulgate a huge infrastructure program to create millions of jobs...but nothing happened. His favored tax plan made him and the other rich Americans richer by reducing their already pared down tax obligations while throwing a small bone to each of the rest of us, though he claimed that the tax cut was for all of us, the middle class in particular. None of that self-serving duplicity, or any of the rest of his misuse of presidential power, dissuades them since they aren't voting for him because of what he has purportedly done, but really hasn't. They are voting for him because they believe in what he does: white supremacy, Chauvinism, unrestrained gun ownership in spite of the fact that the second amendment starts out with the mandate for gun ownership and carrying to be "well regulated." They believe that black lives don't matter but that blue ones do. They believe that the United States should dominate the world and that our system should be everywhere whether the people of the countries dominated like it or not...that we and our culture should have dominion over all others. They believe that black people get most of the welfare benefits that taxpayers pay for and ignore the fact that more whites than blacks receive welfare. They don't like a woman's right to choose, but they don't want to talk about it. That's why they vote for Trump. He is the embodiment of their baser selves, and he gives them cover so that they can try to implement their ideas accordingly. What have we become.
So, I won't read Woodward's book, or Cohen's, nor will I read the next exposé. None of them matter. We can't hope for reason to prevail in November so what's the use of knowing more reasons. We just have to hope that we outnumber them.
Your friend,
Mike
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