Rage

by Vijaya Chandrasoma

Bob Woodward’s latest book, “RAGE”, to be released soon, is written from tapes of several interviews he conducted with Trump, from February to July. He reveals that Trump was fully aware of the severity of the impending virus in February, but chose to downplay it for political reasons. Trump explains that his lack of action at the onset of the Coronavirus was to inspire strength and leadership; he considered his role to be that of a cheerleader, he did not want to cause panic among the American people, and he could will the country to defeat the virus, without a thought for the loss of lives. And this from a president who feeds on fear and panic, fears of rioting and lawlessness, fears of a brown invasion of rapists and murderers, even ridiculous fears of windmills causing cancer.

Although Trump has been repeatedly saying that the virus is transmitted by touch and did not affect minors, he admitted, in February, that he knew the virus was airborne and that it did affect children. He continues to encourage people to ignore wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, contrary to the advice of the scientific community. He has even said that wearing masks and social distancing was a “violation of American freedoms”. Still, he insists on opening schools, in the full knowledge that children will contract the virus and spread it to their elders. And, being fully aware of the dangers of an airborne virus, he still scoffs at those who wear face masks, and continues, as he did last Thursday in Michigan, to hold “super-spreader” rallies of 2000+ people, maskless and packed close together, thus putting the lives of his own supporters at risk.

It is saddening that Woodward did not make the public aware of Trump’s tactics in February, which may have avoided chaos; in reality, the book comes hundreds of thousands of deaths too late. That he may have delayed the release of his book until two months before the election to increase sales is cynical, close to the truth and unbecoming of an iconic journalist.

In many of his recent speeches, Trump pretends that the virus has caused little damage, and will be defeated soon with a new vaccine, which he says will be available by November. An opinion decried by the scientific community.

All he is concerned about is to revive the economy, his main chance to win re-election. In an economy with 10% unemployment, and millions of Americans facing homelessness and hunger, Trump touts that the stock market is booming. Which only means that the richest people in the country are getting richer.

We all remember the words of Winston Churchill addressing Parliament and the British people about the German menace:

“Sir, I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government…. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen and may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender”.

It is said that after this speech, Churchill said to a colleague, “And we’ll fight them with butt ends of broken beer bottles because that’s bloody well all we’ve got.”

I am no fan of Winston Churchill and his racist ideas of Anglo-Saxon Supremacy, but these are the words of a true leader, the words a leader uses to inspire confidence and courage when a nation faces a dangerous enemy.

Donald Trump said in his rally speech at Michigan on Thursday that he handled Covid19 with the calmness shown by Winston Churchill when Britain faced the Nazi menace during World War II. These comments led me to fantasize about how Trump would have faced the German menace, had he been the leader of Britain during WWII. Perhaps Trump would have inspired the British with these words:

“I knew nothing about this, I take no responsibility at all. The French were at fault, they should have seen this coming and warned us. In any event, the Germans are a friendly people, they will stay for only a little while, maybe even help us and then leave, as if by a miracle. They may take large tracts of our land and even occupy a few old and famous states. But they will disappear, they will never be able to endure the vagaries of an English summer. Let us surrender. We can’t possibly win because our generals are idiots who want to keep fighting and spending money which we could use for improvements to our golf courses, and our soldiers are losers, suckers. What do you have to lose? We only have to live with the Nazis a few months more, probably till November. Until then, we don’t have to do anything all.

“I know Hitler well. In fact, some people think that we are in love. He has nothing against us. We should give up our tanks, surrender our bombers and just lie down and enjoy their presence. They will be gentle, the Germans are a gentle, warm people. And even if they decide to stay after November, they will make our island more prosperous than it has ever been. We may lose a few hundreds of thousands of lives while Hitler makes a few changes and builds a few ovens, but these victims will be mainly black and brown animals and fat women, so who cares? It would all be for the greater good, in the name of ethnic white, male supremacy. Of course, all this has been the fault of the terrible administration of that Kenyan Jew, Benjamin Hussein Disraeli, who left us with nothing”.

In one of the interviews, Woodward asked Trump about the current protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. Woodward and Trump are in their 70s, both of the same generation of white privilege. Trump treated these protests about systemic racism against the black and other minority communities flippantly, asserting that racism was a thing of the past in America. He also spoke dismissively of Barack Hussein Obama, always emphasizing his middle name to illustrate his contempt for foreigners from “shithole countries”; he said that Kamala Harris’ bid for the vice presidency is an insult to America; and, in the middle of often violent protests, raging forest fires and ever more frequent hurricanes, Trump shouts that he alone would be able to bring law and order to the country when he is re-elected. In short, he alone would be able to fix the crises that he alone has created. And his supporters cling to his every word, against all the evidence.

Amazingly, with under two months for the election, the presidential race remains a close one, with Biden enjoying a small lead. Trump, with help from his Russian masters, will have a few aces up his sleeve, and may even provide an “October Surprise” to upset Biden. And he will manufacture such a surprise in the full confidence that Biden will not have any answers.

No answers, because Trump has proved that he is immune to new and increasingly damaging news of incompetence, corruption, ignorance, even treason. He has survived the most vile facts thrown at him, from the Access Hollywood tapes of the “grab them by the p…y” fame, his treason at Helsinki, his attempted extortion of the Ukrainian president, to his colossal incompetence in the mismanagement of the Coronavirus which has already cost 190,000 lives. As he himself famously said, he could shoot someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue and lose no supporters.

There are two theories about this immunity. One, his supporters, mainly uneducated white men, see these slings and arrows go straight through Trump’s body and hit the objects of their hatred, the blacks, the Hispanics and the educated elite. Two, Trump’s body is already covered with so much mud that any more mud just slides off, leaving no impression at all.