It’s a little over three months until the big day for the little man, i.e., November 3 and this turnout in Tampa is not something that I would view as a harbinger of success for Donald Trump. In truth, I have catered bridal showers in back yards that were bigger.
Trump was there to acknowledge the support of Florida sheriffs. His blather is not worth repeating. It’s another variation on the same theme that no matter how bad things are now, they will be ten times worse with Joe Biden in the White House. Here’s a good synopsis.
Trump 2016: Things are bad, vote for me so I can fix them
Trump 2020: Things are even worse, vote for me or else things will get much much worse
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) July 29, 2020
Trump did make one comment that I found interesting, though. “There will be no safety, no security, no peace, no justice, no one to protect you and no one to defend the American way of life. People like the ones standing behind me will not be considered prime time. With me, they’re considered prime time.”
I find this a valuable insight into Trump’s psyche. First, the fear mongering and then his slip into show biz vernacular. His greatest fear is not no safety, no peace, etc. Those are not his issues. He’s got enough money to insulate himself from those concerns. His only issue is being relegated to obscurity, not being prime time. Trump projects more than an IMAX theater. All he’s trying to do is stay in prime time. Please oh please MAGAts of all ages, don’t exile him to an occasional call-in to Hannity or Limbaugh, or Drudge, assuming the two of them are even speaking on November 4.
Trump is terrified and so he’s projecting the horror of what will befall him on November 4 by translating it into the horror he hopes he’s convincing you will occur when Joe Biden takes over. The real horror that he’s trying to avoid is the fate that awaits him, when he’s alone at night, walking the parapets of his own personal Elsinore, and nobody cares what he has to say. When he can’t pull the emotional triggers anymore. When everybody has seen his act, grown tired of it, and moved on to something else.
After their two terms were complete, Bill Clinton started a foundation, George W. Bush went home and painted a picture of his dog, and Barack Obama got an Oscar. None of that awaits Donald Trump. He’s a third rate fringe performer with the ego of an Olivier, and none of the talent to justify that level of lionization. But despite that, miraculously, he made it all happen. He got a part where he’s in front of the cameras every single day. And now they want to cancel him. Interesting that the phrase “cancel culture” wafted it’s way into the vernacular, isn’t it?
All of our living presidents are venerated as statesmen. They’re members of a very small and elite club. Trump will never be a part of this club, because although he was elected a president, he never was a president. He lacked the humility and love of the work to be a real president. Do you recall the letter that George H.W. Bush wrote to Bill Clinton?
Dear Bill:
On November 3 a decision will be made, one that Trump can’t buy his way out of, and he will lose. But unlike Jimmy Carter, and unlike George H.W. Bush, Trump doesn’t have the mettle or the honor to acknowledge the will of the people and accept defeat with grace and dignity. The man has no decency, let alone class.
He’ll slink back to Mar-a-Lago and if he talks about the 2020 election at all, it will be about how it was really his but it was fraudulently stolen. He’ll convince himself of this and he won’t know or care if he convinces anyone else. He never has.
And he knows this will be his fate, that he’ll be called out, once again, as a fraud, but this time there’s nobody to pay off and nowhere up to fall. He got to the highest place that any American public servant can possibly achieve, a dream that many far better people than Trump have aspired to and sought and fallen short of attaining. The others had enough going on to regroup and do other things. But for a fall of this stature from a place so high, for one such as him, there is no redemption. He’s not a Carter or a Bush Sr. or even a Nixon, who found distinction and grudging respect in his later years for his grasp of foreign policy. None of that is in the cards for Trump. He’s a showman playacting an American president and destroying our institutions in the process. That’s why he’s so hated and feared and deep down, he knows it.
He can’t handle what’s coming, as Carter and Bush Sr. did, when they got the same hints of their fate that Trump is getting now. That’s why he’s sending troops anywhere he can send them and ginning up terror. He’s got to save himself from cancellation the only way he knows how, by selling this desperate fiction of an America out of control and himself as the law and order president, who’s going to save us all. So that he can stay in prime time. Because the alternative is too grim to bear for him.
Trump is truly his own worst enemy. If, at any point, he could have been a friend to himself and taken stock of his situation and realized how horrendously out of his depth he was, he might have saved himself. He might have taken the advice of experts. But his ego wouldn’t allow it. And so, just like in a Greek tragedy, character will determine fate. And Trump’s complete lack of character is now determining his, as unfortunately, it always has.
The true tragedy here is that the stakes are much higher than just the faux billionaire’s fortunes. The fortunes of America and of western civilization are impacted. Many have lost their lives, much havoc has been wreaked and there will be more tears and bloodshed before this awful chapter concludes and we turn a new page in our history. But at least we’re on the down slope now and can see the end of Trump coming. And so can he.
Yes, the next few months scare me. But on Jan 20, I’ll feel better.
He might just leave after the election. As stated, he is a man without honor and once there’s no pay off in staying and finishing the work, as other presidents have done, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just walked away. And that would be better for us. Let Pence babysit for a few months. Or, maybe Trump’s fantasy of an inconclusive election will take place and then Nancy Pelosi will be president until it gets sorted out. That would suit me just fine.
He won’t be able to go far before he’s in court for litigation, and then prison, for the rest of his life.
I truly think this is what will happen. He’ll fly down to Mar-aLago to sulk and tweet about how Americans didn’t appreciate what a great thing they had and how history will exonerate him which of course it won’t.
We’ve made it three and three quarters years. I can manage six more months.
Unfortunately, over 150,000 Americans haven’t made it. And our country may never truly recover from the damage he has caused.
Both of those are baked into the cake, Karen. The latest estimates put the casualty rate at near 300K by Election Day. And it’s been obvious since the Year One mark that our prominence was always going to take an unrecoverable hit that ended our “first among equals”. Lamenting either is just wasted energy at this point. All we can do is GOTV and ensure said vote is as fair as possible. Neither despair nor rescue fantasies are helpful.
We could recover our position. The problem is that I don’t think the establishment (read Republican-lite) wing of the Democrats and their fear of what the meanies in Politico will say will let us. We need a New Deal level program coupled with a Manhattan Project scale initiative for climate change along with a major slapdown on corporations, the financial sector, and the wealthy. And that’s not even dealing with our tax policies and gerrymandering.
It’s funny how you assume the boogeymen you just mentioned will have that kind of say going forward. Not nearly as funny as everyone who still pretends that America is just an administration change from going back to the pre-Trump status quo, but close enough.
Let’s retire the word “recover” on what needs to happen, shall we? It implies that the system in place before Trump was so great that it took care of everyone (the probable line of the Lincoln Project post-Trump, in all likelihood). The correct term is “reinvent”, as we need to do JUST that across the board ASAP.
Yes this won’t be quick. Biden needs to look hard at who he picks because they will need to take the torch from Joe and carry on. This back and forth crap ? ain’t gettin it. Just as the democrats get things going in the right direction the republicans come in and muck it up again. Hopefully we will win both houses of Congress and be able to hold on to them.
Biden is brain dead and nothing to bring to the table. TRUMP2020!!!
Find out what Biden’s proposing.
also look at how long those big projects under FDR took. This is long-haul stuff, not quick fixes like Himself wants.
Everyone seems to forget that with no testing, honest reporting, etc., the death toll is MUCH HIGHER than reported. They have already admitted that up to ten times the number of reported cases are likely. Then it’s logical to deduce that the death toll is many times higher. Trump has killed more citizens than the British & Vietcong ever did. The media gets lazy & of course they have to answer to the rich boys that own them.
Slink back to Mar A Lago. Nah.
He should be spending the rest of his days breathing in the stench behind a prison wall.
The prosecution, and probably some litigation of civil matters, will come in time. But first he will slink back to Mar-a-Lago because he can’t go back to New York. He’s hated in New York. I spoke with a friend of mine in Manhattan and he said that if Trump came back to New York there would be riots at Trump Tower. I found that plausible, if not probable. He doesn’t understand the magnitude of what he’s done. A lot of people are dead and a lot more will die or have permanent health problems.
“Trump projects more than an IMAX theater.” Best line ever and so true!
Thank you for this beautifully written, thoughtful article.
I am so glad you liked it, Susan. It was heartfelt. All this imbecile ever talks about is ratings and now it’s “prime time.” That’s why he’s so easy to mock, because he’s so abysmally stupid. The problem is, that he has no idea of the cost of his stupidity. And neither does Kushner. Kushner needs to go now and then Trump in November.
He’s had people cleaning up after him all his life. They had to scramble to cover his impulsive decisions on his TV shows, too.
The film editors on The Apprentice showcased Trump’s best takes and the producer hid Trump’s worst takes, including him using the n-word. He has clean up people here, too, but he keeps botching things on live TV. Plus, the most important job in the world is a little different from a TV game show.
I found this to be one of the best opinion pieces that I’ve read. Very eloquent and spot on. I am sharing this. Thank you.
Donnie Dipsh*t was NOT elected! It managed to corrupt the electoral college to cheat it’s way into our White House!!
The Russian bots posing as the neighbors did have their effect. No question.
I’m scared of what he can do in the next six months.
I’ve thought about that, obviously, who hasn’t, and I’ve wondered if McConnell wouldn’t try to curb his worst impulses. McConnell either has an institutional interest in the Republican party, or maybe he just doesn’t give a damn anymore. It would be interesting to know.
In 2016, he was a shiny new toy. Everyone crowded around to play with the new President Donald Trump ?. Why they pushed and shoved for their turn. Now he’s a worn out, out of date doll. There’s no premium for having an original. They all were cheap imitations. He’s a beat up, ripped and torn dirty forgotten ghost ? of the former toy. Left for the sweeper to toss in the dumpster.
I like this imagery. It sounds a lot like the kind of thing Rod Serling would say at the end of a Twilight Zone script.
There are pics of the Tampa rally, reportedly from the WH, and it’s really obvious that they photoshopped them to have bigger crowds – they cloned the existing one.
ETAdd link:
That pic was not shopped by the White House, but by a satirist, who made it very obvious on purpose. It’s a joke.
And you believe Biden can do better. Biden is a has been with dementia. He can’t remember his name or where he is most of the time!!!!! Trump2020!!!
Biden is brain dead, so who do you want in there. He is ridiculous!! TRUMP2020!!!
Trump can’t even complete a sentence and is bat crazy so I would take Biden with a lobotomy. Nobody could be worse than Trump.
Oh Carol,
You are too funny.
Obviously you haven’t shoved your head up trumps ass far enough. So try a little bit further and then maybe you will see the light.
He may try to slink back to Mar a lago but he’s restricted to using that as a residence for 3 non-consecutive weeks per year under the local zoning regulations.It’s registered as a club -not a domicile.Strictly speaking,that makes any voting (by mail or otherwise) in Florida voter fraud as it can NOT be his place of residence
WOW…..what a very very well written article. Thanks!!