With every positive metric of Trump going South, including the acne like bump in his ratings since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, he has gone nuclear. Having been thrashed in the 2018 midterms and having lost crucial post 2016 elections, where he personally intervened, in Red States, Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin and showing no sign of winning back the suburban women, millennials and the Republican intelligentsia, he was relying on the economy to give him another razor thin electoral college victory. And then came the pandemic.
Having abandoned responsibility, Trumps concerns have exacerbated as he has lost control of the country’s response to the pandemic. States, Democrat and Republican, have banded together to act in concert in the three most economically powerful areas of the country. In addition, even though a minority of GOP Governors publicly side with him, the fifty strong Governors’ Association are unanimous in demanding fifty - billion dollars to cope with their costs, which Trump has claimed is their responsibility. Then his call to business leaders to back him to open the economy backfired when they demurred demanding testing as well. The final humiliation is that he can get nothing done without the support of Nancy Pelosi who unless she gets the final say no financial package can happen. It is in this milieu he has called upon his supporters to protest his own administration's regulations and has attacked his current nemesis Governor Andrew Cuomo from New York.
The question remains whether Trump, who appears to have an unconscious desire to catastrophically fail then to rise Phoenix like from the ashes, can defy all the odds and once again triumph. He relishes the challenge. Underlying his value system is never concede a point, never apologize, counter every accusation by a magnified accusation and every litigation by a preposterous counter suit, divert blame and project your own faults onto your opponents.
TRUMP’S CURRENT M.O. IS THE STORY OF HIS LIFE
Truth be told he has always, throughout his long career, survived with the result that this uncanny salesman has convinced his cult like following that he can walk on water. More significantly his frustrated opponents are silently terrified that they maybe right. One fact that there is no argument about it is that he will do whatever it takes to achieve his ends. He seemingly is unworried about anyone else other than himself. In the process he has gone through his seven decades reaping chaos and destruction in his wake. However the stakes have become magnified on a national and international scale since he has become head of the richest and most powerful nation on earth.
Trump is now facing the greatest challenge in his life - his reelection as President and has upped the ante to where the stakes could involve human lives and could pit one half of America against the other in a war like struggle.
There is a magnificent piece in Politico by Michael Kruse outlining Trump’s audacious bold strokes through out his life which have trained him for this moment. His skills at adapting and turning defeat into victory are legend. In retrospect the reader becomes bemused at the stunning effrontery of his moves which should have been apparent to all but the blind. Just to review one of his stupendous failures, which occurred in the mid 1990’s, and then marvel at his audacious actions to escape the consequences. He survived penury by going public netting hundreds of millions of dollars with his gauche debt ridden casinos and hotels in Atlantic City! Kruse’s article likens him to the great Houdini. It appears that his forty percent electorate following are not his first cult following, there have always been gullible believers of his spin.
The public has witnessed his involvement with Russia, several of his campaign team criminally indicted, his lawyer in jail for carrying out his instructions to evade campaign finance laws, the Mueller report, the Ukrainian “perfect call”, his “pussy grabbing” Action Hollywood tape, his failure to produce his “audited” tax returns, his rejection of America’s allies, his love affairs with the world’s bloodiest dictators and on and on. (No one really knows the roots of his current wealth and why Deutsche Bank loaned him billions when his credit unworthiness was tattooed on his head).
Yet there he is alive and well facing the coronavirus threat while strutting before the nation surrounded by his flunkies, who are not social distancing nor wearing masks. He is accompanied by uncomfortable scientific experts subtly countering his mumbo jumbo but doing it so expertly so as not to dent his credibility so that they may survive another day to maintain some semblance of sanity in this crisis. Somehow he has comfortably survived his inept, contradictory and mendacious management of the current pandemic.
THE EVOLUTION OF TRUMP’S CHANGING RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC
Although the POTUS received intelligence reports and memos warning him about the impending disaster, one according to a report in the Times of Israel as early as November 2019, he went into a denial mode over at least two months. First he just shut up and then his silence morphed into it being a “Democratic hoax - a second impeachment”. Then as more and more news leaked out of the Wuhan mayhem, he claimed over that “his great friend Xi and the WHO had it under control". Then the narrative changed into that there were only five cases in the USA and as the number increased a miracle would occur. Next it would go away in sunshine April eventually there would only be a hundred thousand deaths. Finally, he gave the appearance of bowing to science while arguing that his hunches would win over their rationale. As the horizon darkened with increased cases and death he knew he could duck reality no longer so he became the voice of the response team.
Ever resourceful at turning defeat into victory he seized upon the opportunity to deliver two hour daily monologues in Prime Time where he conducted his favorite past time of abusing, humiliating the reporters of the opposition “failing” fake news. However his ratings gradually receded together with his pimple like bump in the polls and the escalating drop of stock market prices - his parameter of economic success, so he looked for other solutions.
His overall strategy was to take “no responsibility or blame” - this was the States’ burden. However as the press briefings with the self congratulation, contradictory statements, attacks on Obama became less and less newsworthy he shocked everyone by withdrawing finance from the WHO. The latter were the only vehicle to avoid the pandemic reaching Spanish Flu proportions in impoverished Africa, India and South America. Even with the almost universal condemnation of his neutering of the co coordinating body that could prevent the annihilation of the “sh....thole”nations he could not refocus the critics from his almost sabotaging efforts of the fight against the plague. Everyone knew that he was as informed about the crisis as was the WHO and they had as much authority over China as they had over him.
As the inept and contradictory Federal management became more and more embarrassing he decided, as the President he had “absolute power”, to instruct the Governors to call the mitigation actions off and “Open America Again”. As he had delegated the shutting of America to the Governors there was no way he could constitutionally or by the gravitas of his Office open it. In addition the Governors’ approval ratings were sky high while his were wilting back to the hard core. Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, had become the iconic figure in providing comfort to those at home. His daily morning briefing, marked by transparency and hope was drawing far better ratings then Trump’s Prime Time disingenuous and abusive monologues were and this was increasingly getting on the POTUS’S goat.
The time had come to declare war. He elected to start it during a Cuomo briefing where the latter was annoyingly not taking him on but stating that New York’s phased opening depended on testing which the Federal Government had to co - ordinate and subsidize. Trump had repeatedly instructed the States to fend for themselves in all matters Coronavirus which found them in a bidding was against one another. To add insult to injury the Federal Government bid against them. There was no better time then in the middle of a Cuomo briefing to issue a series of tweets that would grab the limelight and start Civil War II.
@REAL DONALD TRUMP ATTACKS CUOMO DURING THE GOVERNOR’S PRESS CONFERENCE
Trump spouted out four tweets during Cuomo’s Press briefing that indicated the newest phase in his attempt at winning the 2020 election. The first tweet was a criticism of Cuomo who had become the leader of reason as opposed to his scatterbrained response to the coronavirus. The next three were calls to the street mobs to challenge the stay at home policies of Democratic Governors’ in crucial states in the 2020 Presidential Election.
Cuomo’s daily Press Conference has become the balm of the nation. New York State being in the eye of the storm, having a half of the nation’s death toll, Cuomo exuded credibility with his systematic and comprehensive management of the crisis. “New York”, he eloquently argued, “is the canary in the coal mine”. The Governor was a repository of facts, transparency, lucidity, humility and empathy treating his audience as adults. He shared personal stories on how he had grown in this crisis. He also emphasized the need for Federal leadership and resources.
Up to then Cuomo had studiously avoided any major confrontation with President Trump but he was ready for the latter’s bomb throwing perpetrated while he exuded gravitas and a historical perspective - “This is the gravest crisis America has faced since the second world war”, while acknowledging society’s anger and fear for their personal and economic future.
Trump tweeted that Cuomo ”should spend more time doing and less time complaining. Get out there and get the job done. Stop talking. We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn’t need or use, gave you large numbers of ventilators that you should have had and helped with testing that you should be doing……we never hear a thanks ….your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action”.
The New York Governor finally rose to the bait and gave Trump a devastating mouthful lasting twenty minutes that held the seasoned journalists in the room spellbound.
CUOMO SHUTS @REAL DONALD TRUMP UP IN REAL TIME
Our fearless President had believed that before starting Civil War II he needed to discredit the de facto leader of the safe return to work faction. Trump could not have dreamed that in real time, with a national audience being broadcast live on several channels, he would receive a comprehensive point by point rejoinder accompanied by audiovisuals, to his childish admonition. To the “lack of action” criticism the Governor snapped back, “If Trump is watching this televised press event, maybe he should get up and work”.
Harking back to Trump’s reversal of his position that he, the President, had absolute authority to instruct the State Governors and subsequently condescendingly accepting that they could decide how to re open their states, Cuomo was derisive, maintaining that the President had done “a graceful one hundred and eight degrees… (but) by the way it was always up to the States, what are you going to grant me what the Constitution gave me before you were born. I don’t need the President of the United States to tell me the powers of a state”.
President Trump’s insulting reference to Cuomo’s requesting far more beds and ventilators than he needed, was met by an audiovisual indicating that the numbers were derived from the President’s administration which he apparently appeared clueless about. Cuomo sarcastically continued, “Whose projections were wrong? Head of the CDC, Peter Navarro and the Head of the Coronavirus Task Force? Fire them”. Turning to the jaw dropped audience -“You know that show the President did - Fire them all. The only mistake was following your number your projections. I don’t know what, am I supposed to send a bouquet of flowers?”. Repeatedly he mockingly thanked Trump for the providing the extra beds and added that was his job.
Cuomo returned to his central narrative that the Federal Government needed to provide the States with the where withal to do the testing that was needed to open up the economy. He pointed out the obvious that it was everyone’s objective to return to work. Earlier in the presentation he had outlined in detail why this was necessarily a Federal function as only they had the resources to do this complicated international transaction and co ordinate the disposal through the States. He epitomized the Trump approach to put the blame and responsibility on the Governors while putting himself in the position to take the credit if there was a successful outcome, “Don’t pass the buck without passing the bucks”.
The expected Trump tweet storm in response never materialized nor did the POTUS allude to the interlude at his daily Press Conference/Campaign Rally Meeting that evening. He had met his match, at least for the moment. But Trump had another string his bow that morning - turning to his cult mob when all else fails.
TRUMP DECLARES CIVIL WAR 11 EXHORTING ANARCHY
Trump in his original tweet storm immediately following his attack on Cuomo gave a call to arms to his supporters who have been starved of his rallies exhorting them to “liberate” Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia. These were crucial to his re election. He claimed at a Press briefing that the protestors were “responsible people”. No sooner had the word gone out, a maskless mob ignoring social distancing stormed the streets some with Federalist flags and red MAGA caps. Albeit there were only small groups they garnered media coverage and the diversion Trump had desired to deflect attention for his gross mismanagement materialized.
Trump was also responding to a section of his supporters like disgraced Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly, who reckoned that those were dying were on the way out anyway. There were others, including a few Republican legislators that articulated that the risk of deaths to save the economy was well worth it. The cynics noted that by and large the victims also came from demographics that didn’t support the Republicans any way.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
Trump is taking a huge risk with this strategy but what’s new? It could be the final one, one way or another, in his lifelong game of chicken.
The eight Republican Governors who have been with him for the ride all along who hope that his theory that the virus only attacks blue states should resign from the cult now. In tiny South Dakota they have already have over fifteen hundred cases with close on six hundred workers positive from a meat factory who have spread into the community. The Mayor of Sioux Falls has begged the Governor to close down at least his City but the Governor is ad idem with her leader Donald, right or wrong. The Iowa Governor stands firm as well even in the face of outbreaks at meat processing plants.
On May 15 the Supreme Court are finally taking up the numerous cases where lower courts have ruled that Trump’s financial records should be revealed. Don’t hold your breath.
One outcome is for sure. Trump is like the liver of the little old lady who took liver pills every day of her life and when she died at age of ninety - six they had to beat her liver to death.
No comments:
Post a Comment