covidocaust

Not too long ago it seemed to many, if not most people that it had been a truly a terrible, horrible, no good very bad week for trump because previously unknown and damaging information emerged that would sink any other politician but at least would certainly cause some of his supporters to re-evaluate their positions. But, as in all things in trump land, up is down and down is up, good is bad, bad is good and in the end everyone is so disgusted and exhausted that they just don’t give a shit anymore and pour themselves another drink.

That particular week didn’t start off well for trump, after a major article in the atlantic magazine detailed how, throughout his tenure as president, he had denigrated our military men and women, calling them losers and suckers. That he couldn’t understand why they did it, what was in it for them? It also described his refusal to visit a graveyard in france dedicated to the american soldiers who died in WWI because he was worried that his carefully crafted coiffure might get mussed.

Then bada bing bada boom, excerpts of bob woodward’s book came out five days later with even more devastating evidence of trump’s pathological disregard for other people. It chronicled in detail that the president was fully aware of the seriousness of the corona virus back in january and that it was highly contagious and spread through airborne particles, yet he said nothing to the americans who were in mortal danger. But he told bob. And now bob has told the world what the president knew and when he knew it. And it’s all backed up with taped interviews. But trump is one of those never apologize, never explain kinda guys because why should he when he has a load of alternative facts tucked in his golf bag between his nine iron and his putter, with with fake news and total hoax zipped into the outside pocket.

So now there are over 200,000 americans dead from covid who were assured that the virus was not only no worse than the flu but that it would disappear “like a miracle.” Their demise has never even been acknowledged by our president. Ever. Just think about that: 200,000 dead and over 5 million infected and not a peep, er tweet. Not a word of regret, compassion or empathy for the loss of life or the terrible toll it has taken on the lives of the victims’ families, friends and colleagues. But the stock market is still strong, and that apparently is the single gauge by which trump measures his success.

All those americans are dead because their president willfully ignored the scientifically verified facts that he knew to be true, and he lied to them. He told them that they didn’t need to wear masks, or maintain social distancing or take any other recommended precautions. In fact, he invited them to attend huge indoor rallies where maskless people crammed cheek by jowl screamed, spewed infectious particles into the air, and waved signs to enable their spreading further. Yet even as people succumbed to this virus they vehemently, violently, loudly proclaimed their support for the person who is 100% responsible for the deaths of their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, children and dear friends. And maybe they themselves.

It beggars belief, but it is also a cautionary tale. I have often wondered how good, loving, honorable german citizens could have been so perverted by a single power-hungry man like hitler. I am no historian but from what I do understand is that he played upon their fears and anger after germany’s defeat in WWI, as well as the economic depression that followed.  But hitler didn’t attribute germany’s loss to the allies, he attributed it to the “traitors” in their own country. Just as with trump, the “enemy” is not outside the country but right here, right now. Our enemies, fellow americans, are those who refuse to embrace the idea of an america in which the white male is the top dog, instead they support the notion that all citizens should have equal rights, that black lives matter as much as any others, that illegal immigrant children should not be separated from their families who came here seeking asylum, forced to live in cages and sleep on the ground with aluminum blankets. They don’t even believe that ozzie and harriette were real people and that mayberry is a real town for god’s sake.

Hitler was an unattractive xenophobe and anti-semite, an impassioned and persuasive speaker who was extremely good at sizing up his audiences and giving them exactly what they wanted: someone to blame for their circumstances.

And he found it. Jews.

Trump did too. Immigrants.

And they both understood that a simple symbol or slogan was something ordinary people would understand and embrace. For hitler it was the swastika, for trump it’s maga.

I hope that the american people have woken up to what our country has become in the last three and a half years and say enough! This is not who I am, this is not who we are. And come november 3rd we are all going to rise up and stick our heads out of our windows and scream “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”