My Kingdom for a Leader

From the beginning of the manifestation of the Covid-19 virus in America the defenders of Donald Trump have expressed less interest in the spread of the virus or efforts to combat it than they were in keeping-up appearances and crafting an alternate narrative.        

You needn’t go back in time more than a couple of months to note that news about the spread of the virus was a conspiracy to harm the President.  The media was being ‘alarmist’.  It was ‘fake news’.   It was nothing more harmful than the 'common cold'.  It was a ‘hoax’ cooked-up by the Democrats.         

The growing pandemic of January was observed thru the lens of how this would impact Trump’s reelection prospects.  And of course this is completely predictable when you understand that the needs of an individual stricken with the virus and fearful of infection are lost on the self-centered personality.  In the end Trump spent almost two months denying that the virus was a serious problem.         

As a consequence, instead of being presidential Trump resorted to his usual strategy of lying.  He has lied about the spread of Covid-19.  He has lied about progress in stemming the spread.  He has lied about relief to cities and states impacted by the spread.  And he has blame-shifted others as his administration delayed action.  All along he has vacillated between taking genuinely sensible action and continuing to lie.   

I wonder how many Trump supporters are genuinely enthusiastic about his parade of lies?

On Monday he shared another whopper when he said that hospital masks might be going out the back door.  An implication that doctors or other healthcare workers were stealing the masks instead of using them. 

Donald Trump is a chronic and unrepentant liar.

Faced with a living record of the lies during the period of the growing outbreak Trump and his minions are scrambling to rewrite history.  The latest lie is that Trump was too preoccupied and distracted by the impeachment to deal with the unfolding crisis.  It was the fault of the CDC.  Trump had plenty of time to tweet, play golf and hold rallies throughout January and February.  All the while he downplayed and lied about the gathering storm.  

So here's the deal.  Watch for the propagandists to employ three tactics:  

• Flood the media and supporters with every tardy, postponed and delayed action Trump has taken
• Much like the North Korean government they will amplify self-congratulatory praise of the president. Anybody beside me tiring of the afternoon circle jerk?
• Finally, they will deploy the Roy Cohn tactic and ‘punch-back’ ten times harder at any and every one critical of the president.  

Never forget – this is all about him, only and always.