I can’t decide whether the Trump era can best be penned by George Lucas or William Shakespeare. The black and white simplicity of the war between Good v. Evil is Lucasinian, but the sheer depravity and complexity of how the entire drama has unfolded would lend itself better to the Bard’s talents. If Shakespeare was alive he would probably bang out “King Trump” and this week’s events would prove both dastardly and developmental to the finale of this tragi-comedic farce that we’ve been living through since 2016.

The recent death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg proved a moment of great jubilation for the forces of darkness. That led to the party in the Rose Garden and that has devolved into a superspreader event which has felled close to a dozen inner circle Trumpites, including both Trump and Lady Trump.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman has published over twenty pieces in the past few days. She was interviewed by by The New Yorker. Read the entire article. It’s the best codification of all of Haberman’s reporting that you’ll find.

What have you been able to learn about the timing of the President’s positive diagnosis?

[Dr. Sean] Conley raised far more questions than he answered. I have reported that [Trump] was on oxygen at the White House. Conley seemed to give very equivocal answers around that, and what happened. The biggest question mark for me is Conley saying we are seventy-two hours into this diagnosis. If we are seventy-two hours into it, that suggests he has been sick since Wednesday, and that is a major question, because if he was sick on Wednesday, and they had him going to a rally in Minnesota, and then a fund-raiser, parts of which were in an indoor area at his club in Bedminster, that is important to know.

What have you been able to learn about the President’s state of mind?

His friend Stanley Chera, who was a real-estate magnate in New York, died [of the coronavirus, in April]. Chera was older than Trump is and was in worse physical shape than Trump is, and Chera got very, very sick, very quickly, and basically went into the hospital and never came out. Trump was very spooked by that, and I think that has stayed with him. And he is—I don’t want to say hypochondriacal, because that is not the right word—but he gets very agitated when he is not feeling great. And I think all of this contributed to how they were dealing with him [on Friday].

What do you mean by that?

What I mean by that is that some people experience the feeling of being sick differently than others, and I think he experiences it acutely, and it can be anxiety-provoking.

I thought you might have been implying that, because of how he deals with sickness—

Oh, I just think there were various reasons for taking him to Walter Reed, and that was one of them.

How would you define the attitude, broadly speaking, of people in and around the White House before the past few days regarding the dangers of the virus?

I think that the response to the virus and how to treat it and deal with it has been very top-down for a very long time. I think the President has tried willing it away for a very long time. In the last hour or so, we have learned that [the former New Jersey governor] Chris Christie tested positive, and he was at that event on Saturday that appears to have been something of a nexus point for people getting sick, and ironically, Christie was one of the people who wrote an op-ed to the President early on saying, “Look, take this seriously.” As time has gone on, Trump has tried to downplay it, and he admitted to [the Washington Post journalist] Bob Woodward he was trying to downplay it. The problem is that there is a midway point between saying “I don’t want people to panic, don’t freak out, we can handle this,” and, you know, not taking basic precautions and making fun of states for taking basic precautions and making fun of people for wearing masks, and the President, to varying degrees, did all of that.

At the time of this writing, Chris Christie was just admitted into the hospital in New Jersey. He says he’s basically fine and the only reason he presented at the hospital was due to his history of asthma. Perhaps so. All the reports we’ve been getting from high profile Republicans is that their version of the coronavirus is no biggy. That is devoutly to be wished. I think that it’s fair to assume that what Trump is thinking right now is the same as what he told Bob Woodward, that he knew that the virus was highly contagious, airborne and most of all “deadly” and not just for old people, but for the young. Trump is freaking. His doctors will do everything that they can to cover it up, but unless I miss my guess, the ghosts of Stanley Cherra and Roy Cohn, who also died a horrible death from AIDS and who knows who else are dancing in Trump’s room at night. Maybe he better call his wingnut appointee Michael Caputo. He sees shadows on the walls, too. Maybe they can form a support group.

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1 COMMENT

    • This is why it is Shakespearean. His character is the determiner of his fate, far more than outside forces. If Trump had had it in him to deal with the virus and just turn it over to the experts and let them carry the ball, he would most likely be coasting to reelection right now. Instead, his botching the pandemic has proven his undoing politically — and it may take his life. We don’t know.

  1. Ya. It’s difficult to wish ill on any other being. Not something I’m comfortable with because of Karma and general morality. However, I will not be willing to invoke the healing intent or praying for any Repub politicians recovery from the COVID anytime soon. djtRUMP and most of his contingent have had lots of chances to make it better as regards the virus. They have played it down, lied, backtracked and misled us for too long. As Shakespeare said: “It is now up to the fates.”

    • I admire your honesty. I can’t pray for any of these people and I’m not going to pretend I can. That said, I do not want Trump to die. Au contraire. I want him to be very healthy on November 3, to take a beating and then I want him to go to prison thereafter. So I want him alive and healthy.

    • Here is the thing, you have to look at the greater good. The more Republicans that become really sick and stay sick for months the better for the rest of us. If enough Senators get sent to ICU that scum won’t be confirmed to the SC. Sorry, but they are all scum to me now. This is war. I never hated the Vietnamese, or the Russians or the Iraqis, but I do hate Trump and his army of filth.

    • I think of those who fail the weighing of the scales in the Egyptian Hall of Judgment. Should your heart not balance against the feather of Ma’at, Ammitu The Devourer swallows your soul into oblivion. And for the 208,000 plus Trump and his toadies sent ahead of the rest, I shall offer no prayers for he who made their exit possible. Justice demands no less but also no more.

  2. There were a lot of people at the Rose Garden wingding, and all the people who were there should be taking precautions as if they were exposed – especially those who were close to *any* of those now reported to have the virus. (The virus doesn’t care about your willpower, thoughts, or prayers. That includes you, Barr.)

    • Maybe Barr will be next. We could put together a bingo card or a drinking game from this. “Next Republican Infected?” something like that.

      • U need the old (70s) Fireside Theatre albums. On Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers, they have a game show called Name That Disease. The host gives u the deadly disease, & based on the symtoms, u have to guess it to get the antidote. Otherwise…UR FIRED…from iife.

    • Pence has got it. They won’t say because things are teetering already and Pence is under the delusion that his God wants to bother more than his OTHER god Trump. None of that will keep from worsening his condition in the days ahead.

      • If you’re right and Pence is concealing something like that, that is really bad. Not that I think it impossible. But I thought that Pence had enough sense to cater to Trump but to also keep himself plausible. Maybe not.

  3. You forgot to mention Poe in your list of possible authors, Ursula. And like Fortunato’s friend in “Cask of Amontillado”, what I wish Trump is nothing he would want.

    Just saw his hospital video and kept the sound off…he looks like hell. And what I heard of his statement tells me he’s Vincent Price right now, running through the halls of his castle for the doom that is waiting for him to stop.

  4. We were watching episode 3 of revenge of the sith today on Disney. I kept turning to my wife, palpatine sounds just like trump, even down to the sick part. wow.

    • Maybe not so much the bad teeth…do have some affection for that one still. It’s become a central source of memes in the last decade.

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