What’s That Smell? Nervousness.

Toilet Water is right

There are just six days to go before it’s “Election Day” which really means “the end of the election” which really means “the end of the voting for the election.”  What happens both before and after that is why I’m nervous.

This isn’t 2016.  Back then, I expected my candidate to win and I expected a peaceful transfer of power, no matter who won.  Neither of those expectations exist now.

I actually looked back at this blog to see what I wrote about it.  Plenty afterwards, but only two comments beforehand.  Neither were terribly earth-moving – in one, I compared Trump to Herbert Hoover, the explanation being that Hoover, even after 3 years of the Great Depression, still managed to get 40% of the vote.  The idea here was that whatever our expectations of Clinton, Trump would in fact get plenty of support.  I could not believe that he got as much as he did, and even though he did not win the popular vote, you know the rest of the story (narrow wins in MI, WI, and PA gives him the Elector College edge).

We’re pretty much there again.  Practically no one gives Trump a chance of winning the popular vote nationwide, but there’s lots of wiggle room for him to eke out another EC victory. 

And that’s before you consider the X and Y factors.

The X factor is cheating.  We on the left are convinced that Trump will TRY to cheat – whether he’ll be successful (or successful enough) is up for debate.  It’s pretty much the Trump M.O. – what you can’t do legally, do anyway.  He’s destroyed most norms and ignored the rules for the last 3+ years – why would anyone expect any different now?  We don’t REALLY know what happened in 2016.  We didn’t have eight Benghazi-like hearings on the matter.  The Mueller report got swept under the rug and wasn’t even the subject of his impeachment.  Don’t get me started – hell, I thought I cheated to win the Republican primary.

The Y factor is lawsuits and the Supreme Court.  We’ve seen countless suits by the GOP to make it more difficult for people to vote – fewer drop boxes, fewer voting machines in heavily Democratic areas, limits on receiving mail-in ballots, correcting ballots, etc.  We’ve seen the USPS hit by sabotage to slow the mails.  And we know Trump is “lawyering up” getting ready to send results he doesn’t like to the now-friendly-to-the-right courts, all the way up to SCOTUS.  I’m sure many on the right feel confident knowing “the fix is in.”  Again, whether than fix is enough to overcome an extraordinary commitment from the left remains to be seen.

And frankly, that’s the other reason I am nervous.  What happens AFTER Election Day?

That’s the big mystery, and one I’ll tackle in a later post.

BREAKING: Hero Trump in Action

Here we see Donald Trump leaping into action to go after an active school shooter - without a weapon!  Brave, brave Donnie!

I Know Why Trump is Pissed at Lesley Stahl

As you no doubt know by now, Donald Trump stormed out of a taping of 45 Minutes 60 Minutes this week.  There’s a lot of speculation about why he did this.  Was it because she kept following up to his non-answers?  Was it because she asked “tough questions?”  Was it because he’s the king of the whiny-ass-titty-babies and needs soft foods and softball questions?

We may never know.  I am not one for conspiracy theories, but…I find it strange that the FIRST thing his campaign complained about was the fact that interviewer Lesley Stahl did not wear a mask.

It’s not only strange because if there’s ANYONE in this world, let alone that room, who is anti-mask, it’s Trump.  So why get pissed because Stahl had no mask?

After all, she’s just like Trump – had the ‘rona and recovered.  Her bout with COVID-19 was back in late April/early May, and she was hospitalized for a week.  Almost identical to Trump, who got it in September.

Or did he?

There has been much speculation as to whether Trump was faking it about getting COVID.  Supposedly his wife and son (and 30+ White House staffers) caught it, too.  And maybe everyone did.  Or maybe several people did, but Trump wasn’t one of them.

And THAT might explain why a severely germophobic WATB would freak out.  Stahl was positioned several feet from Trump, but…again, he’s a known germaphobe.  Got a crucial debate coming in the next few days.  Really wants the PR for this interview, but…my gawd, she’s not wearing a mask!

It’s only a theory.  We’ll never know the truth. 

But if he starts hacking and coughing for real tonight during the debate, keep this in mind.

Trump Owns COVID, Part Two

Are you in a Green or Yellow state?  Didn't think so.

A few weeks back I read a post from a FOT (Fan of Trump) who claimed about Trump’s handling of the coronavirus: “He did the best job he could.”

In reflection, they’re probably right.  Consider Trump’s track record prior to his ascent to the Presidency” failed casinos, failed airline, failed university, failed marriages, Trump Steaks, Trump Wine, etc.  Consider his failures during his tenure at 1600 Pennsylvania Blvd. - no new border wall, no new health care plan, the tax cut that only helped the already-rich, trade deals, lowering the debt, economic growth, rebuilding infrastructure (I laughed so hard when I typed that one), never playing golf (he really promised that - no, really), and of course, he never prosecuted Hillary Clinton.  And etc.

So it’s no surprise that he “did the best job he could” because Trump always does a horrible job.  In fact, some suggest that Trump’s involvement only makes things worse, hence the #ETTD meme (everything Trump touches, dies).

In the case of COVID, it’s literally true.

It STILL takes an average of three days to get results of a COVID test here in the US.  You know what can happen in those three days if an infected person who doesn’t know they’re infected goes out and makes contact with another person or persons.

You should know.  It’s happening now.

Why, after nine months, are cases surging?  Again (or still, if you prefer)?  Part of the answer lies in WHERE cases are surging.

First, look at the world’s cases.  You can see that the daily count has done NOTHING but go UP, UP, UP.  And is rising.  But in many countries there is not much of a spike.  They are almost “normal” with school, sports, economy.  They still are seeing cases, but not to the extent of other countries like Indi and Brazil.  Where there are spikes are places where lockdowns have been lifted or where there were few restraints to begin with. 

Here in the US, it’s pretty much the same.  Those states that imposed harsh lockdowns in the beginning, had mandatory mask and social distancing requirements, and instituted other measures are faring better than those states who responded with a big “meh.”  That the states currently spiking most are led by Republican Governors who may or may not be following the example of “Dear Leader” I leave to your own judgment.

One other factor that cannot be ignored:  The stupidity of people.  Here in Oregon, a state where strict measures were taken early and our case and death counts are low compared to the rest of the US, we’re still seeing increased cases and deaths.  I am not surprised, because even now when I go to the store where masks are MANDATORY I see chin masks and hanging masks and a “so what” attitude.  I read local posts on social media where people “defy” the rules and claim that they’ll never wear a mask or keep their distance.  I know of events where 10, 20, 40 or more people gather, without masks, without social distancing, DEFYING the virus to strike.

Sometimes, the virus ignores all that and strikes anyway.

And let’s not forget the other “cost” of COVID – it’s not just about cases and death; it’s its toll on people, on their livelihoods, on their lives.  Nothing is normal; businesses are closed or restricted or bankrupt, schools are online mostly and there are reductions in all sorts of activities, our social lives have been upended, the arts suffer, families suffer, jobs are lost, people are struggling, and there’s no one out there who thinks 2020 is the best year of their lives.

And the President dances.  He disses Fauci and other experts (“People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,” he said on Monday.  He retweets shit from QAnon.  He promotes “Proud Boys” and other white supremacist groups.  He promotes Fox News programs (which he frequently appears on by phone).  He holds super-spreader events rallies and leads chants of “lock him/her/them up.”  He continues to profit from his campaign and his presidency while all the while saying he’s losing billions and only paying a pittance in taxes.

He lies.  Continually.  Constantly.  About anything and everything and things he doesn’t even need to lie about but he does because he lies about everything, every time, every day, everywhere.

And he downplays the virus.  He’s claimed it will “disappear” (sometimes magically) 38 times.  We’ve been “rounding the corner” for a long time…almost as long as that two week period that he was supposed to release his health care plan.  Of course, all of that happens after Infrastructure Week.

And the GOP supports him by making it harder for Americans to vote to get him out of office.

And millions of Americans support him because they always vote Republican or because “Joe Biden is worse” or “Joe Biden is a pedo” or “Where’s Hunter” or “…but her emails” (seriously – I saw a post the other day that claimed no Democrat is worthy of office because Hillary was evil or something yargle bargle). 

In the face of all of this, COVID will continue to get worse.  More cases, more deaths, more hardships for millions.  The President does.  Not.  Care.  It is what is it.

So we’ll vote his ass out.  We’ll vote out anyone and everyone that’s supported his sorry ass these last four years.

And then, on November 4^th, we’ll see.  And wait.

Trump Owns COVID

Not disappearing

There’s a debate Thursday night.  Yeah, even though 90-some percent of Americans have already made up their minds, we’re gonna have another debate.  Under the “new rules” designed to make it more argument and dialogue, less interruption and shouting.

Right.

The subject of COVID is expected to be one of the topics for discussion during the debate.  There is no doubt that Trump will give himself an A+, 11 out of 10, highest rating for the great job he and his administration did and is doing about COVID.

Right.

So, what, exactly, did he do?

We know he’ll talk about his “China Ban” (which only restricted some travel; 40,000 still travelled from China to the US after the restrictions were in place, which were already too late).  Ditto the European Ban (missed the country with the largest number of cases – the UK – where Donnie has golf courses.  Coincidence?).  What else?

Oh yeah.  The President's Coronavirus Task Force.  It began on January 29, just nine days after the first US case, but really didn’t take off until a month later when VP Pence was called on to lead it.  It lasted all of two-and-a-half-months in “attack COVID” phase, then phase two began on May 15 – the “REOPEN AND SAVE THE MARKET” phase.  Remember, “the cure is worse than the disease?”

The Task Force’s major accomplishments were criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, criticism of the CDC, recognition that there were shortages of test kits, and…that’s about it.  Oh, they initiation “Operation Warp Speed” to speed up finding a vaccine, as if that wasn’t going to happen anyway, and they moved around some funding and the President signed some Executive Orders so that they could move around some more and control manufacturing of medical equipment (one wonders how many Trump supporters received windfalls because of this, but that’s a topic for another day).

There has been much more emphasis on the Phase Two operations than the short-lived Phase One.  “Getting on with life” and “MY STOCKS” seemed much more important to the Task Force and this administration than actually preventing the spread of the virus, or people getting sick and dying.

And what of the President’s actions?  That’s easy – Trump did what Trump always does:

• Sowed the seeds of doubt
• Sowed the seeds of distrust
• Sowed the seeds of confusion and chaos

Take a look at a timeline of some of his comments:

• March:  “We have tremendous control over it.”
• April:  “It’s gonna be gone.”
• May:  “This is going to go away without a vaccine.”
• June:  “It’s dying out.”
• July:  “Other countries don’t show cases.”
• August:  “It’s disappearing.”
• September:  “I’m doing very well with it.”
• October:  “We have done an amazing job.”  

And just last week:  “We’re doing fine.”  We are “…rounding the turn on the pandemic.” and “My plan: we're gonna crush the virus very quickly. It's happening already. It's happening.”

Right.

Oh, and there was also his pumping for hydroxychloroquine, which has been shown to have no effect on the virus and has been revoked by the FDA for use against the virus.  He also touted bleach and doing something with UV light.  And yes, folks listened to him and some got sick and a couple of folks died.

But mostly he’s ignored the problem.  Wishing it away.  Tossing everything and nothing at it.  With the obvious effect.

No one has more cases than America.  No one has more deaths than America.  He says we have more cases because we do more testing.  And we have more deaths because…

Well, he doesn’t talk about that.  What he does talk about is the great job he’s done.

Right.

And it’s getting worse.  After nine months, it’s not getting better.  We’re not “rounding the corner.”

Unless the corner points up.

More in Part Two later…

Showmanship vs. Policy

Tonight – at the exact same time – both Joe Biden and Donald Trump held town-hall style programs.  If you’re thinking “hey, wasn’t there supposed to be a debate with that format?” the answer was yes, but then the first debate sucked dead ferret’s eggs and then Trump got the COVID and things actually went DOWNHILL from there.

Trump nixed a virtual town hall debate, so the debate commission said “Fine, debate cancelled,” and then ABC said they’d still do the town hall but with only Joe Biden, and then Trump got all huffy and the very next thing you know, NBC is hosting a town hall with Trump at the very same time.  Quel scandale!

Oh, this is the same NBC that Trump called “the worst” and “I’m doing this town hall with Concast, con, con. It’s a con job. C-O-N, not C-O-M. Concast! (NBC’s parent)” and “the fake news media is corrupt, okay? It’s corrupt. We’ve shown it so many times…” and “I’m being set up tonight.”  All of those comments made just hours before his “free hour of television.”  That’s Trump gratitude for ya’.

Why is he even doing this?  For one thing, it’s not like he plans to answer any of the questions offered to him with actual policy statements.  Trump (and by extension, the GOP) has no policy statements.  Seriously, none whatsoever.  He has a dream list on his website (my favorite being “return to normal”) but he’s had a zillion chances to announce his alternative to ObamaCare, and… 🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗 [crickets].  He still has no plan to deal with the coronavirus.  And so on.  And even if he DID have policy, he still wouldn’t answer questions that he doesn’t want to answer.  He never does. 

Oh, and there’s that pesky lying thing.

So why IS he doing it?  Somewhere in that muddled brain of his is the thought that ratings is what drives it all.  Sure, it’s a leftover thought from his Apprentice days, but he really thinks that if HE gets better ratings than Biden, HE deserves to be re-elected, voters be damned (so if someone wants to watch baseball playoffs, they’re SOL).  And he thinks he’ll get better ratings not because of his policies, but because of his showmanship. 

This might actually be true if he was a dynamic, charismatic, trustworthy leader.  Being none of those, it has a snowball’s chance in hell.  So how’d it go?  As NBC's Savannah Guthrie (the town hall moderator) said, “You're the president, you're not like someone's crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever."  Yeah, definitely not dynamic, charismatic, nor trustworthy.

When the debates raged on, social media had a field day.  You no doubt have your favorites, but here’s mine:

Joe Biden over here giving thoughtful informed answers and having productive discussions with citizens and the moderator. Good thing there isn’t a fucking bile-filled circus going on at the same time distracting the country from moving forward even a little.  @hankgreen

Joe Biden listing off the pay-fors of his tax plan, answering a heartfelt question about why young black voters should choose him.  Donald Trump saying he doesn’t know for a fact that there isn’t a satanic pedophile cult running the government.  @Rob_Flaherty 

And after it was all over…well, no surprises.  Here’s the Trump campaign statement: "President Trump soundly defeated NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in her role as debate opponent and Joe Biden surrogate. President Trump masterfully handled Guthrie’s attacks and interacted warmly and effectively with the voters in the room."  So to Trump, it was actually another contest (which he naturally won).  

Sure.

Meanwhile, nearly an hour AFTER the town hall was over and the cameras had been turned off, Joe Biden was STILL answering questions from the audience.

I think that says it all.

Drugs can Make you Goofy

He's on this many drugs?  Seems like it

I’ve not posted this week until now because of pressing personal obligations.  I had a birthday (68!) and I also had cataract surgery.  I’ve been celebrating and coalescencing all week (not necessarily in that order).

I’m not the only one recovering this week.  Donnie T. had a nasty bout with COVID, and claims to have conquered the virus.  Completely [cough cough] he says.  However, he was pumped with a shitload of drugs, so it could be the drugs talking.

I should know.

When I was much younger (say, 65), I had rarely taken any type of pharmaceutical for anything.  I was healthy as a mule, as the saying goes, and just as hard-headed.  Then my prostate complained loudly about the same time I was elegible to participate in Medicare’s Plan D, and I’ve been on some sort of drug(s) ever since.

I’m not taking anything terribly powerful, but during my recovery from cataract surgery I am taking three types of eye drops, and I am learning how they interact with my prostate medicine – weirdly.  Every drug seems to have some side effects, and many drugs warn of interaction risk with other drugs one might be taking. 

I got a rude awakening when I first started to take something for my prostate.  I developed a cold, and naturally reached for the decongestant.  Whooooooooo!  I had to pee like once every twenty seconds, and it hurt like crazy.  Once I recovered from THAT painful experience I read about the interactions my medicine had with pseudoephedrine or phenylephrine-based decongestants.  I’ve been careful about reading the entire write-up that comes with my drugs ever since.

But back to Trump.  All week he’s been acting erratic.  OK, that’s really nothing new, but it does seem to some that it’s ramped up, even for him.  It’s believable.  I remember when I first switched doses of my prostate medicine.  One side effect is dizziness, and I had never experienced that…until I upped the dose.  OK, NOW I get it.  When the dosage was upped again I was prepared for it to happen again (it did, but not nearly as bad). 

So are steroids causing more erratic behavior in Trump?  Most likely, especially if he hasn’t been taking a lot of drugs prior to this (I mean, besides the Adderall).  And speaking of Adderall, it has a long list of drugs that may cause unintended interactions.  So do several of the eight drugs he got when at Walter Reed: Dexamethasone, Remdesivir, Regeneron's monoclonal antibody, Zinc, Vitamin D, Famotidine, Melatonin, and Aspirin. 

It would be extremely helpful to the media and the American people if Trump and/or his doctors would level with us and tell us exactly what’s going on – when did he first test positive, what are his vitals now, etc.  He “believes” he’s not contagious, but that’s not how it works.  He claims he feels “perfect” and we all know what happened the last time he used that word to describe something.  There are few details forthcoming about his condition – we’re just supposed to believe the words of a guy who habitually lies; more than 20,000 times since becoming President.

And is pumped up on drugs?  Sure.

Three Questions About Trump and COVID – Only One Matters

That's one helluva hospital gown

I’ll give you the answers to these questions in a moment, but let me say in advance that only one is actually worth answering (and it’s the same one I have an answer for).

• Does Trump really have COVID? 
• If so, is he really recovered? 
• Does this matter to either his supporters or his detractors?

Ever since late Thursday night when it was first reported that both the President and First Lady tested positive for COVID, I had doubts.  I went to sleep that night embarrassed that I actually thought that he might be faking…only to wake on Friday to see that I was far from alone.

After all, we’ve been primed for this.  Lie after lie after lie, like the boy crying wolf.  We’ve been taught over and over that we can’t trust our eyes and ears and that the press is the enemy of the people.  And then, there it is – Trump has COVID!

Or does he?

There were plenty of reasons to be suspicious, but then more and more who attended the Barrett confirmation “super-spreader” event tested positive, too.  Then, a quick trip (by helicopter) to Walter Reed Hospital (about a mile away from the WH) and my skepticism faded.

But on Saturday, that awful press conference by his team of cover-ups doctors.  The 4-minute video showing him “working” followed by more pix that looked more like North Korean propaganda.  I mean…

• He wore the same clothes as he did on Friday when he entered the hospital.
• Plus, those clothes are contaminated.  Why are they letting him keep them let along WEAR them?
• Where’s his IV?  His hospital bracelet?
• Who took the photo – of a maskless COVID carrier?
• WHY THE FUCK IS HE WEARING CUFFLINKS?
• And he’s hard at work…signing a blank piece of paper.

Add in his Sunday joyride (endangering all those Secret Service agents) and his impending release on Monday and…I am back to skeptic-land.

But it doesn’t matter.  Here are those three questions again, with answers:

• Does Trump really have COVID?  Who knows for sure?
• If so, is he really recovered?  Who knows for sure?
• Does this matter to either his supporters or his detractors?

No.  And that’s the only question that matters.

His supporters will sing to the rafters that he’s superhuman and fought COVID and won and he knows more about it because he caught it and beat it and nanner-nanner.  Meanwhile, let’s open up and take off these masks and play football and send the kids back to class and just ignore those 210,000 dead Americans because we’ll all get it eventually and as long as you have this super cocktail of drugs that “anybody” can get you’ll survive, probably.  It’s no big deal.

And his detractors (like me) will continue to point out that the Trump administration

• Is still spreading disinformation about masks.
• Is still spreading disinformation about how the virus spreads.
• Still has no plan on dealing with the virus.
• Still is not being truthful nor transparent about when Trump/others caught the virus, who gave it to who, etc.
• Still doesn’t understand how all of this works.
• Still doesn’t care how many get sick and/or die.

Trump and the GOP are a danger and a menace to all Americans.  Nothing has changed.  Not one bit.

Trump’s reckless disregard for anyone other than himself makes this recent comment made in the Rose Garden laughable:

“Tremendous progress is being made.   And I say, and I’ll say it all the time: We’re rounding the corner.”

He is either most corrupt or most incompetent President ever.  Yeah, I know, I know – why not both?