During the greatest world pandemic in over 100 years, this past Sunday one presidential candidate went to church. (And no one was tear gassed for a photo-op.) And then he visited the gravesite of his late son who had been a Bronze Star recipient for his heroic military service in Iraq.
Playing golf, was draft dodger “Cadet Bone Spur,” whose five children never served and whose father didn’t either. (Apparently rotten apples never fall far from the tree.)
After golf (at which he’s a notorious cheater) Cadet B.S. rage tweeted. Perhaps because he wasn’t able to cheat enough? And then his campaign cruelly mocked the other man for visiting his son’s grave. (But enough for parables, let’s do some math.)
Currently 193,253 Americans have died from Covid-19 with predictions of 314,000 by year’s end. But carnival barker Trump promises there will be a vaccine released on or before November 3. (I only hope it’s more efficacious than bleach.)
The Trump administration received its first formal notification of the corona-virus in China on January 3. Within days, U.S. spy agencies alerted Trump in the first of many Daily Briefs which, unfortunately, he never reads. Add to that, in 2018, Trump disbanded Obama’s pandemic research team, saying, “If we ever need them we can always get them back.” (That’s like boarding up windows AFTER the hurricane hits.)
The U.S. And S. Korea discovered their first case of Covid-19 on the same day, January 20, 2020. The S. Korean government immediately created instituted testing, contact tracing and mask wearing. (While Trump referred to Covid-19 as a “hoax,” and later compared it to the “sniffles.”)
But now we learn via Trump on audio tape of 9 hours of interviews with Bob Woodward, the shocking news that on February 7, Trump knew how deadly Covid was. But he “played it down” because “I didn’t want people to panic.” (Meaning a stock market plunge and he loses the election.)
To date, S. Korea has had 336 Covid deaths. Total! Since the U.S. is six times larger, per capita we should have 2016 deaths. It’s estimated that if Trump had advocated masks and social distancing 83% of Covid deaths would have been avoided. (Trump didn’t want people to panic, he preferred they just die.)
Trump still calls the virus the “Kung Flu.” But since he’s been lying about Covid since February 7, it should be called the “Trump Virus.” And since we’re 4% of the world’s population but have 22% of Covid deaths, the disparity should be called the “Trump Death Gap.”
This brings us to Trump’s reaction to a lead article in The Atlantic magazine about his disparaging American soldiers who died in battle as “losers” and “suckers.” The story has been confirmed by CNN, MSNBC and even Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, a former war correspondent. Not a “fan” of the 1st Amendment, Trump insists she be fired.
Calling the article a “hoax,” (his go-to for anything or anybody who dares to disagree with him) Trump vehemently denies the accusations. Then again, he also denied he called John McCain a “loser,” when it’s on video and his Twitter feed.
President John Quincy Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things,” to which Trump might respond, “Maybe, but I get better ratings.” Speaking of ratings, Biden’s convention numbers beat Trump’s 54% to 45% despite all the fireworks and illegally staging the RNC at the White House. Just sayin’.
As reported in the book “A Very Stable Genius,” Trump called his Generals, “Dopes, babies and losers.” More like a mob boss than a president, Trump infamously said, “I know more than they do.” In fact he has often said he would have been a great general. (Picture him watching the troops go into battle from his golf cart.)
Trump loves military parades. But multiple sources report that he insisted wounded vets, such as amputees, be kept out view. “Nobody wants to see that.”
In 2017, Trump reportedly tried to “console” Myeshia Johnson, mother of two and pregnant widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson who died in Niger. “He knew what he signed up for,” Trump said. Crying harder, Myeshia told reporters, “He didn’t even know my husband’s name!”
Today is 9/11/2020. To understand Trump’s malignant narcissism consider that on 9/11/01, he shamelessly (and incorrectly) bragged, “I guess now my building is the tallest in lower Manhattan.” Trump doesn’t comprehend public service or love of country. Whereas JFK said, “Ask what you can do for you country,” to Trump the only question is, “What’s in it for me?”
However, occasionally Trump tells the truth. In responding to the Atlantic article listing his horrific quotes about fallen soldiers, “Only an animal would say such things.” He’s right about that.
If we allow Trump to cheat his way to re-election, we’ll be the losers and suckers.
This Sunday on “60 Minutes” Bob Woodward will play more Trump tapes. Please Google “They all knew video” to see what GOP leaders really thought of Trump and did nothing to stop him. Jack is at jackdailypress@aol.com.
