Doug's Darkworld

As I wrote this blog last night, Trump was on another twitter rampage. It’s not my imagination, his behavior has been increasingly erratic. Trump’s erratic behavior continues as he halts stimulus talks and spreads falsehoods on pandemic. Not just CNN either, Fox and Friends has concerns: Fox & Friends host fumes at Trump for stimulus debacle: ‘It looks like he’s to blame now!’ Hell, even one of his own sons has concerns: Donald Trump Jr. wants ‘intervention’ in father’s COVID-19 behavior. His determination to get a vaccine before the election, overriding the FDA’s concerns, is also extremely troubling: Trump Determined to Get Vaccine Before Election, Reportedly Overrules FDA Guidelines. In conclusion, I don’t usually link to Alternet, but this has a nice overview: Trump is flying off the handle — even more than usual.

So Trump’s not having a good week. Some foolish people suggested Trump’s bout with Covid-19 might trigger a bit of humility or empathy. Yeah, that would require that Trump be a reasonably functional adult, which it seems clear to me he isn’t. I’ve always hesitated to make these sorts of judgements, but I’m thinking Trump is some sort of sociopath. His utter lack of empathy for a country ravaged by Covid-19, or worse. And his apparent inability to learn from experience. “I beat covid-19, therefore Covid-19 is no big deal and I’m the hero I say I am” is not a mature adult response to a life threatening illness. This is the article that got me wondering along these lines, an interesting read in and of itself: How to Tell a Sociopath from a Psychopath.

In my little rural Iowa town I noticed something interesting today. I was driving around and noticed … no Trump signs. Well, one or two, but in 2016 they were everywhere. Even more curious, Biden signs all over the place. There were essentially no Clinton signs in 2016. Granted it’s not a scientific poll or such, but I’m beginning to suspect that Trump is going to get crushed in the election. At this point, suspecting that pretty much only true believers are still Trump loyalists. Most Trump voters aren’t true believers though, and with some Fox News talking heads, the Drudge Report, and numerous Republican leaders refusing to endorse Trump, his support is likely melting away. The polls are certainly looking grim for him.

We’ll see. A wild month in a wild year, but I can’t see Trump pulling off any sort of miracle recovery at this point. Last moment debate thought:

Please please please please, God, last minute debate format changed to “Chainsaws in Thunderdome.” Then it MIGHT be watchable.

Question #1 Started off with Harris not giving a straightforward answer, until the last few rushed sentences. Pence. Simply lied, everything is great! Lie, lie, lie. Insults. OK, so much for point by point response.

Pence is basically making Trump’s claim that his Covid-19 response was fantastic and saved millions of lives, and Harris is all about arguing points about who knew what when. Instead of “When are you going to start fighting Covid-19 instead of making America a Covid-19 sanctuary country? Up to a thousand people a day are dying, one of the top five mass death events in US history, when is Trump going to do something about that?” Bringing up Bob Woodward isn’t helping Harris’s cause.

I’ll try to watch more. It all so far seems like the usual joint press conference, both more or less ignoring the questions and trying to cram in as many talking points in as they can. Pence spinning the Trumptopia fantasy that Trump made everything great, when most of what he did was transfer money upwards by the trillions. Pence is the ultimate yes man, Trump’s Martin Bormann and Josef Goebbels rolled into one. The perfect Trump cheerleader. Gotta give him his props.

Pence: “There’s no excuse for what happened to George Floyd.” No Mr Pence, there’s no excuse for a cop murdering George Floyd. That’s the ultimate expression of male and white superiority, bad things just happen to people. Blacks are being unjustly killed, not cops are murdering blacks. Women are being raped, not rapists are raping women. The passive voice about victims justifies the aggressor, it’s part of the problem. Using it denies the problem, shame on you Mr Pence.

I watched as much as I could. I now loathe Pence, the perfect apologist for a failed administration. I’m underwhelmed by Harris, but I doubt I could do better. The fact checkers are already ripping into Pence, though Harris had a few whoppers. I guess at first pass, a null event. Nobody won, but science and reality lost. Might well be the epitaph for the America we grew up in.

I changed the image at the last second, Pence apparently had a fly land on his head. The perfect image for a seventies horror flick where Pence was secretly demon spawn. Thanks for reading the rambling thoughts of a dying blogger. A blog a day until the election and beyond! Stay frosty people. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #FelesRegula

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: A screen capture from the debate, attribution unknown, claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law.)