Dear America,
Since Donald Trump's audacity is endless, we have all been treated to scads of it, but this week we observed unparalleled audacity from even him. As the governors and other officials of the western states suffering catastrophic brush and forest fires met with him to explain their situation and discuss remedies, Trump's myopic, self-serving view that forest management was the problem was confronted. Wade Crowfoot, California's secretary of natural resources pointed out that management of the forests had a role, but without abating climate change it would be for naught. Trump replied that it was going to get cooler and that science didn't know about it, and when crowfoot persisted, Trump told him that he had "drunk the kool-aid." Of course, the implication was that our paternalistic "stable genius" president did know and everyone should be assured by his confidence.
Other officials later ridiculed Trump's favored solution of raking the forest (he actually said that, just like his suggestion that people inject bleach and Lysol to cure Covid-19) for a couple of reasons, presumably among them is that we're not talking about someone's back yard, but rather millions of acres. The forests in question in California, for example, that is the ones that are at risk, are only 3% under the control of the state, while 57% are federally controlled lands. So, if there's raking to be done, maybe our president can pay Eric and Don, Jr. an allowance to do it since the vast preponderance of the forest that is vulnerable is their father's responsibility as the person in charge of public federal land management. They aren't doing anything constructive anyway, so maybe they could be imbued with a work ethic while they solved the western states' fire problem and earned a few bucks with honest labor in the bargain.
In any other circumstance...with any other president...I would be confident that such an admission of narcissistic pedantry would be the coup de grâce, but not with this one. His "base," since we have already mentioned drinking the kool-aid, seems to just brush such overt bluster aside and credit it to what they excuse asTrump's iconoclastic lack of political correctness, but what is actually, in his case, a psychopathic personality disorder. His complete lack of empathy for the victims in favor of his Luddite views on the subject of the fires would disqualify anyone else from a second term as president in both parties. But somehow, Donald Trump has managed to subjugate the Republican Party completely, including what polls show to be 90% of its members. Of course, the political poltroons in office were immediately cowed by the prospect of Trump's thumbs doing a number on them, so the reality that they have become his sycophants in every respect is no surprise. But as to the rest of Republicans, those whose views and principles have always seemed wrong but sane to me in the past, I cannot explain their blind loyalty but in the way in which I did recently: they share his sub rosa views on race, immigration, police excess and the extremes of all of the rest of what has passed for conservatism in the past century.
By blindly supporting Donald Trump, his voters are able to advance a collective attitude that they wouldn't admit to otherwise. Trump will do their dirty work for them while they just sit quietly and nod approval without openly professing his odious preferences. That is why most of them would condemn Trump's private behavior if it were in any other politician, but dismiss it as nothing but a set of disturbing peccadilloes in his case. If they expressed the values of conservatism with regard to Trump as a whole, they couldn't have the barbarian who shares their ideals do their dirty work for them. The Trump voters I know would condemn anyone they knew who acted personally the way that Trump does, from his peccancy to his predations; from his demands for personal loyalty to himself at the expense of loyalty to the nation and its principles to his meretricious use of the presidency to line his own pockets and his utter deceitfulness. Most of Trump's voters are ten commandments people in every respect other than their fealty to him. In short, Donald Trump has institutionalized hypocrisy. It is an unforgivable transgression against our culture. But maybe our culture was just a veneer. Maybe he has just brought out the worst in us, like too much drink does to the individual over-indulger. But maybe if he loses...maybe if enough people reject his deprecation of modern science in favor of a political goal as well as the rest of his villainy...we can at least recover some semblance of civilization for our nation. Maybe we can redeem our empathy and sympathy for one another if we can just limit Trump to one term. Maybe we can heal in time.
Let me make it clear that I'm no big fan of Joe Biden. He has more shortcomings than a president would have ideally. But there is one thing that I feel he is eminently capable of: he can bring out our better selves again just by being himself. That's enough for me.
Your friend,
Mike
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