He is laying the predicate for resigning the presidency when the writing for his reelection doom becomes clear enough on the wall even for him to read. At that point (around early October), he will feign Covid-19 sickness and resign.
That way he’ll be able to claim he was never defeated; moreover, that he would have won reelection by the greatest margin in American history … if only he were healthy enough to run again.
Trump is a coward. This is the only cowardly thing he can do. And, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, coward is as coward does. You know, like hunkering down in the White House bunker to hide from righteous protesters, and then claiming that he was just performing a routine inspection. He’s such a friggin’ joke!
So stop fretting about his dictatorial antics. His nightmare performances will all be over in a few months.
Indeed, a few nights ago, no less an authority than the original CNN anchor Bernard Shaw echoed what I’ve been assuring for months, namely that Republicans in the House and Senate will be swept out along with Trump. That is, so long as you continue writing sure signs of his looming defeat on that wall.
Again, make defiantly clear your intent not just to protest, but to vote. And follow through!
That’s my take. And I should clarify here that, if not hydroxychloroquine, Trump will find some other cause to save face. The point is that, his life is so guided by the dictates of his fragile ego, he will do whatever it takes to avoid suffering the greatest re-election defeat of any president in US history.
Crazy? Surely no crazier than Trump attempting to turn Washington, DC into a militarized banana republic on the Potomac.
Apropos of which, I suspect serving military leaders will take cues from recently retired ones like former Defense Secretary Gen. Jim Mattis. You’re probably aware of the shock and awe he caused yesterday with his stunning rebuke of Trump for using soldiers as props for his photo-op:
I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. … Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. …
We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.
(The Atlantic, June 4, 2020)
Significantly, Trump once hailed Mattis as the best thing since the Civil War’s Gen. Ulysses S. Grant; although, he probably wanted to say since the Depression Era’s sliced (white) bread, which he loves so much. Yet here’s this revered military leader telling Americans in no uncertain terms that, if you support Trump, you are perpetuating the racial and social injustice that is fueling a tenth day of mass protests in cities across America today. But talk about inflicting a mortal political wound …
Incidentally, reputed independent-minded Republicans like Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine – who always make a public show of the “struggle” they endure to continue supporting Trump – would do well to take heed.
Meanwhile, other retired military leaders immediately lined up to rebuke Trump and express similar support for the norms he has spent his presidency making a mockery of. But, further to yesterday’s commentary, Gen. Colin Powell was/is still conspicuously AWOL.
The point, though, is that I suspect it’s only a matter of time before Trump, a de facto emperor with no clothes, finds that he’s barking orders at military leaders who are saluting, but just treating him like the proverbial crazy uncle in the attic.
Hang in there, folks.
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