Sssshhhh, hear it? That high pitched keening that has had you thinking you developed tinutus in the night. Fear not, dear reader, it's not you, it's not me. It's them.
In the wake of the broadcast of Chris Wallace's full FOX interview with Simpleton McAsshat, MAGAts everywhere have been rending their garments, wailing like they usually reserve for being faced with mask wearing at the 7-11. They are in torment; they are furious; they are confused; they are experiencing cognitive dissonance on a level heretofore yet experienced by them.
Why, you ask? Did the Lincoln Project make another mean video? Yes, and it's brilliant, but no, it's not that. Is it because Twitter pulled his campaign video down last night? Seems Linkin Park has a problem with copyright infringement and being used by a decomposing cantalope without permission. Yes, they went all first-amendment-scholar in the night over that one. But no, not even that has set them to screeching like alley cats encountering unrequited love.
Seriously, not since Ruben Studdard bested Clay Aiken on American Idol, season 2, May 21, 2003, has so much umbrage and disbelief enveloped them so.
What has this morning left them bereft, agog, and at looser ends than usual is this: Chris Wallace called out their emperor and told him to his face that he is naked and it makes everyone pukey.
Whoever on der Furiouser's end set this interview up apparently did not reckon with anything beyond the letters F-O-X. They did not factor in that if FOX has anyone even passably familiar with journalism, it is Chris Wallace. And that he may even ask the dreaded follow up question. And as we have all seen, that is where Trump unspools like a bad skein of yarn.
Much has been made (not near enough, but much) of Trump's obvious decline in cognition. It is deserved, it should be discussed, and as we have already had a President who was in the early stages of Alzheimer's and it was covered up (Reagan), it should be concerning to all. But as the drum has been beaten louder and louder, of course, the Stable Genius has had to weigh in.
A bit over a week ago he was Tweeting away and bragging to Hannity about passing a recent cognitive exam. Doctors “were very surprised. They said, 'That's an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did.'"
Uh huh... we're not talking about the entrance exam for MIT here.
Forward to today's broadcast and he started up again. The lead in was a question posed about Joe Biden's fitness to lead. Fair, considering that is Trump's most recent attempt to attack him.
“Is Joe Biden senile?” asked Wallace.
Mushmouth VonRamblinman launched into a screed that included Biden is “not competent to be president” and that “he doesn’t know he’s alive.”
It then took a turn when Wallace pushed him.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, let’s take a test. Let’s take a test right now. Let’s go down, Joe and I will take a test. Let him take the same test that I took,” Trump muttered.
Wallace then calmly said that, ahead of the interview, he took the test, too, and it was not the “hardest test.”
“They have a picture and it says ‘what’s that and it’s an elephant,” Wallace said.
Cue heads exploding viscera near and far.
How dare he?!?!
Well, gentle MAGAts, here's the thing - the test is NOT hard, and it DOES include identifying an elephant.
It also includes such softballs as "What is today's date?" "Who is the president?" and repeating the phrase “I only know that John is the one to help today.”
These tests are routinely given to older patients who are exhibiting memory and cognition issues - my father has Parkinson's and regularly is given this to monitor where he is in terms of advancement, decline, and medication needs.
Again, it's not the SAT or ACT. Hell, it's not even a 6th grade spelling test. Although that would be a hoot to watch Trump be bested by 12 year olds Putnam County Spelling Bee style.
Now, while this portion of the interview was hilarious to watch as Trump sputtered and spat, trying to convince Wallace the test was much harder, especially the last five questions (name his kids?), when it got to the subject of COVID, it became even more obvious how little he gives a shit, and how completely stupid he is in the face of a raging pandemic.
Wallace challenged Trump's current narrative about testing (how if we didn't test, our numbers would be better - yes, and if I had never taken that third pregnancy test, I would only have two kids. Idiot.) He told him that "testing is up 37%" and that "cases are up 194%."
Trump's retort? "Many of those cases are young people that would heal in a day. They have the sniffles and we put it down as a test."
Sweet Jesus on a jelly donut...
Sniffles? A deadly virus, that IS killing young people, is written off by the man who should be leading the country, if not the world, in this crisis, as sniffles. Tell that to the parents of the 85 INFANTS who have tested positive in ONE Texas county.
Or how about you tell that to the researchers who just released a large subject study from South Korea that shows Children younger than 10 transmit to others much less often than adults do, but the risk is not zero. And those between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do.
“Young children may show higher attack rates when the school closure ends, contributing to community transmission of Covid-19.”
Just as Trump and his coven are forcing our schools to reopen.
This Wallace trumpster fire interview also goes to underscore the devastating, yet not even remotely surprising article in WaPo from last night. One of Drumpf's advisors told the newspaper that Trump is “not really working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be distracted by it. He’s not calling and asking about data. He’s not worried about cases.”
Let me make something clear - when I sat down and started typing, we were at 142,928 people dead and 8,619 new cases since midnight. I just hit refresh. 143,059 dead and 29,568 new cases. We have broken single day records for cases 11 times in the past month - it is only the 19th.
But hey, not worrisome enough to distract the, you know, PRESIDENT or anything.
When pressed by Wallace it turned blathering and ugly.
Wallace told him that the United States had the seventh highest mortality rate in the world. Trump got agitated, disputed it and said he thinks “we have one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.”
“That’s not true, sir. We had 900 deaths on a single day,” Wallace said.
What happened next is the equivalent of a toddler sticking his fingers in his ears, shitting his diaper, and screaming NANANANANANANANANANA. He literally blew off our death count with "It is what it is."
Trump doesn't want to know the truth about how this virus is ravaging our country. BECAUSE. HE. DOES. NOT. CARE.
Thomas R. Frieden, a former CDC director and president of Resolve to Save Lives, summed it up well. “The virus doesn’t read talking points. The virus doesn’t watch news shows. The virus just waits for us to make mistakes. And when we make mistakes, as Texas and Florida and South Carolina and Arizona did, the virus wins. When we ignore science, the virus wins.”
The interview did nothing to bolster Trump's poll numbers versus Biden or make a case for why the people of this country should trust him with his handling of this virus.
We shouldn't.
From the beginning, he has done everything in his power to ignore it, spin it, and extort governors to be nice to him in exchange for much needed supplies. Gavin Newsom, governor of California was told by the White House that he had to personally call Trump, ask him for the swabs himself, and thank him, which he did.
A governor had to bend a knee to get help for his citizens. It is unconscionable. But it is also Trump's life long M.O. Publicly prostrate yourself to him, make him feel the "big man", lick his balls, and then maybe he will help you. It's all just a game to him - this virus, the presidency, your life, your children's lives. All that matters to Trump is TRUMP.
The revelations, the data, the dismissiveness and ignorance shown in this interview would have buried any other president. And maybe if we just let him keep talking, the avalanche will eventually happen, but for now?
Cover your ears to protect them from the call of the wild MAGAt as it violently vomits its bile and flings its shit over the exposure of their pack's alpha beta. (Yes, cultists, you elevate a man who is only #1 at being weak.)
And wear a goddamned mask. Your president doesn't care about you, but you should.
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