While president Trump privately knew the Covid virus was “deadly,” he told journalist Bob Woodward that he was being a “cheerleader.” He wanted people to remain calm and confident in their leader. Publicly for months he minimized the danger, calling it a hoax or suggesting it was a Democratic Party ruse or fake news, putting millions of Americans at risk of serious harm.

Even though the knew the virus was “deadly” because it could spread through the air, he mocked people for wearing masks. No doubt many of his followers who take to heart everything he says, unknowingly put their lives in danger. He admitted privately it was “deadly” while saying publicly it was just another flu. As CNN analyst Jamie Gangel said, “it’s a striking contrast to what he was saying publicly.” After he continued to hold indoor public rallies with no social distancing he demonstrated clearly that he did not care about his supporters. He did not even warn those who supported him. Publicly at the time, he said, “I think the virus is going to be fine. We have it very much under control.”

In one interview with Woodward, on March 19, 2020, Trump acknowledged this: “Now it’s not just old people, Bob, but just today, and yesterday some startling facts came out. It’s not just old, older, people, plenty of young people.” This was more than a month before he publicly declared that young people were almost immune. A bald faced lie that put young people at risk. How many parent believed Trump adn let their children walk into danger? Unfortunately millions of American youths believed their president and put their lives at risk without being aware of the real risk. If people are fully informed and then take chances they have assumed the risk and must be responsible for the consequences of their actions. That is very different than where political leaders withhold the truth for their own person political purposes. That is heinous.

In one interview with Trump, Woodward told Trump that he must have pivoted on the virus because what Trump said publicly was so different from what he was saying to him. Trump was too ignorant to take the hint. He responded this way: “To tell you the truth I always wanted to play it down. I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”

First, as we all know, Trump is never shy about creating fear and panic. He does that all the time. He is a sower of panic. That is precisely his specific and clear strategy in the 2020 election campaign. He continuously tries to convince American that there is rioting in the streets and only he can deal with.

Secondly, this wasn’t about panic. Plenty of countries were told the truth by their political leaders, and did so seriously, and fared much better as a result than the United States did. The United States currently has about 190,000 deaths as a result of the pandemic, many other countries where political leaders told them the truth have done much better. As Jamie Gangel of CNN said, “Americans dealt with 9/11, they dealt with Pearl Harbour, they dealt with World War II. To say it was about preventing panic or calming people down is simply outrageous.” Naturally Trump lies to conceal his previous lies. No surprise there.

Another CNN commentator had another interesting comment about Trump’s claim that he was a cheerleader . “He hasn’t been a cheerleader; he’s been a misleader.”

He urged people to storm state legislatures when he knew how dangerous the virus had become.

As Anderson Cooper said, “True political leaders rise to the occasion. Americans can handle the truth.” They must be told the truth, that is the first lesson political leaders taken in managing a health crisis. Exactly that  advice was in the Obama playbook that his team assembled for dealing with pandemics that unfortunately Trump tossed in the waste basket as a unnecessary expense. The current big question is whether or not Trump and his administration is telling the whole truth now. I think we know the answer.

I have been blogging lately about the death of truth. Then 2 days ago we have had a shocking example of what I have been talking about.

For months we have known that Trump played down the importance of the Covid-19 epidemic. Yesterday we got proof. Trump assured us the pandemic was under control and would likely “magically go away”. Those were comforting words, but they disguised the truth and Trump knew that.

Yesterday a new book was released about Trump by Bob Woodward one of the Watergate investigative reporter at the Washington Post, called Rage. Amazingly Trump granted 18 exclusive interviews to Woodward and consented to him recording them. That is how we have his exact words. And those words are damning. Shockingly the statements Woodward claimed Trump told him were actually taped. You can hear him in his own words. This is not fake news.

The first of those conversations between the two men occurred on February 7, 2020. Trump acknowledged the virus was tricky because it is transmitted through the air. This is what Trump said:

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff.”

But that is not what he told the public. As the Associated Press reported,

“Just three days later, Trump struck a far rosier tone in an interview with Fox Business. “I think the virus is going to be—it’s going to be fine.”  (emphasis added)

How differently would Americans have acted if they knew the truth—i.e. if they knew the truth that it is “deadly stuff?” How many lives would have been saved or health damage avoided?

Trump admitted on February 7, 2020,  this virus was unlike the flu where we lose 25,000 or 30,000 people a year.  He also admitted this is 5% versus 1% or less than 1%…this is deadly stuff.

Anderson Cooper put this into perspective for the viewers of his show:

“The President lied to us when it really mattered, when action could have been taken had people known taken had people known the truth. That could have saved lives. In case you are wondering the numbers are simply heart-breaking. Researchers at Columbia University have estimated that instituting social distancing just 1 week earlier would have prevented at least 36,000 deaths. 2 weeks sooner could have prevented 84% of all fatalities.”

Think about that: more than 68,000 deaths could have been avoided had Trump and his team told Americans the truth and promptly started taking the virus seriously and taking serious measures to curtail as other countries did, rather than dismissing it as insignificant!

As Cooper said, “During what has been called ‘the lost month’, he could have mobilized the public and saved lives. He could have but he didn’t.”

During this time Trump admitted he didn’t want his Covid numbers to go up. In a March interview Trump admitted to Woodward, as was recorded on tape, “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Because I don’t want to create a panic.”

This was like America’s political leaders during the Vietnam that claimed Americans could not handle the truth when really they hid the truth because it would make them look bad. It seems obvious that Trump’s real goal was not to panic American voters (over this issue at least unlike others such as ‘rioting’ in the streets) in order to enhance his chances of being re-elected. As CNN analyst Jamie Gangel said, “hearing the truth did not panic South Koreans who had just 21,000 cases and only 344 deaths in the last 6 months.”

Is it true that Americans cannot handle the truth? Or is it true that Trump does not care about the truth and would rather feed the American public lies to enhance his political position? I think the answer is obvious.

Recently Donald Trump decided to, or was asked to, take a mental competence test. These are not the most difficult tests. They are designed to see if a person is competent enough to hold a bank account or remember the rules of the road in order to quality for a driver license. One would certainly expect the leader of the country to pass such a test. It appeared that Trump must have had some doubts about passing the test because he felt the need to brag about passing it.

Dana Milbank reported about it this way in the Washington Post:

“We should be relieved that President Trump claims he “aced” his cognitive assessment, including what he calls the “very hard” last five questions. Such as:

• Identifying the similarity between a train and a bicycle.
• Repeating the sentence: “The cat always hid under the couch when dogs were in the room.”
• And naming at least 11 words beginning with the letter “F” in one minute.

 

Forgive me for finding fun and frivolity in our fearless first minister’s feeble self-flattery, for his felicitous finesse, fluid facility and firm familiarity with F-words, far from folly, are fully fitting, and fundamentally and fantastically fortuitous.

Many of us have been making jokes about this at the president’s expense. The thought that someone would brag about passing such a test is astonishingly absurd. He even bragged that the last few questions were hard.   The image of this is stunning. Not funny at all.

The bigger question however—much bigger—is what does all of this say about the United States that it has a president who feels the need to brag about passing competency test? What does it say about millions of American voters?  Malik put the issue this way:

“The real question is whether we, as a nation, could pass a cognitive assessment test. At the moment, we’re struggling with the national equivalent of distinguishing a lion from a rhinoceros: 17.8 million Americans are without jobs — but Trump is pushing to cut payroll taxes for those who already have jobs.

Unemployment assistance has held off a wave of evictions, foreclosures and mass hunger — but Trump and congressional Republicans are proposing to cut it.

Schools need new funds so that they can protect teachers and students from the virus if they reopen their doors — but Trump threatened to withhold money from schools if they don’t open.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health are struggling to contain the virus and to get remedies to the public — but Trump seeks to phase out funding for both, as well as for testing and contact tracing, ABC News reports.

The federal government poured trillions of dollars into coronavirus recovery legislation, and tens of millions of Americans sheltered in their homes to limit the spread — only for the country to squander both by reopening too soon without following public health guidelines.

State and local governments are hemorrhaging cash as they fight the virus — but instead of providing them relief, congressional Republicans are focused on protecting private businesses from lawsuits if they make workers sick.”

 

This question is not a joke either. I think the evidence is in and clear—America is incompetent. It does not qualify to govern its own affairs any longer. It should appoint a substitute decision maker (power of attorney) unless it is too late. Some people are so incompetent they have lost the capacity to appoint a substitute decision maker. That might really be the case with the United States.

Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans bragged at the recent convention how the whole world wishes it was as successful as the United States in combating the coronavirus. On what planet do these people live? The United States has had more coronavirus cases and more deaths than any other country in the world. It’s per capita rate is also among the world’s highest. Wuhan China, where the virus appears to have started went into a strict lockdown for 3 months and is now out of it after having no new cases for about 3months.

Virtually every country in the world has done better at combatting the virus than the US has done. Europe has banned Americans from traveling there. The richest country in the world has done the poorest job at containing the virus. Meanwhile it’s large yahoo contingent is clamouring to open up the country because the Covid restrictions are hampering their freedom. Meanwhile its economy has gone into the tank as the pandemic in that country drags on and on.

Many countries including Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and others are slowly gradually returning to normal after suppressing the virus while in the United States roughly 1,000 people per day of are dying as a consequence of the virus and they are finding it very difficult to do the testing all the experts say they need to do. Everyone realizes they are not doing well, except for Trump, his cohorts and his millions of implacably loyal followers who will follow him slavishly and blindly no matter how close to the precipice he leads them. None of these people want to look at the truth it is too uncomfortable for them.

I think Malik was right in reaching this conclusion about American competence:

No, our national cognitive assessment is not promising. But now come the “very hard” last questions:

 

Will Republicans, in these final months before the election, find the elusive courage to disavow Trump’s madness?

Will the people reject him and his enablers in 106 days?

And, if Trump loses, will all Americans insist he do what he refused to commit to on Sunday: honor the will of the people?

If not, we will have earned ourselves a big, fat F.

And meanwhile the American president brags about what a great job he and his administration have done in combatting the virus. This is madness in high definition! Insanity on steroids. No wonder there isn’t any truth left.

My last post in this blog was about how the President of the United States suggested that Dr. Stella Immanuel who believes  various  health problems were caused by people having sex with aliens and that scientists are trying to figure out how they can create a potion that will stop people from being religious, had “an importance voice” that should be heard and she was “impressive.” This indicated to me that there was no longer anything like truth. It is not just that the President said that, it is that he has more than 80 million Twitter followers as of May 2020. Here is what the Washington Post said about his followers in May of 2020,

“President Trump has more than six times as many followers on Twitter as he did when he was elected to office in 2016.

He gained nearly 1.7 million followers in the past month, bringing his total to 80.3 million followers and making him the eighth most followed account on the site, according to social analytics company Social Blade. Trump has tweeted more than 52,000 times total and tweeted or retweeted more than 50 times on Tuesday and Wednesday. Each received thousands of comments, likes and re-tweets.’

 

Since making these comments  Trump’s ratings among Americans has improved! How can that be? Americans don’t care about truth? Truth died without a defender. Is any other explanation possible?

Of course there is one person who is a genius at taking advantage of this sorry state of “thinking”. That of course is Donald J. Trump. Andrew Sullivan, a conservative pundit, not some left wing radical, described the situation this way:

“And the president — who knows exactly what he is doing — is making it far, far worse. His war on the nation’s traditional press is a part of the same scheme: information warfare, meant to mess with reality and sow as much confusion as possible.’

The great political thinker Hannah Arendt understood the dangerous connection between abandonment of truth and authoritarianism and fascism. She pointed out that through an onslaught of lies, which may be debunked before the cycle is repeated, totalitarian leaders are able to instil in their followers “a mixture of gullibility and cynicism,” she warned. Over time, people are conditioned to “believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible, and that nothing was true.” And then such leaders can do pretty much whatever they wish. That really is the point.

 When such outrageous lies are given the seal of approval from the President of the United States and his followers soak it up and don’t abandon him, but instead support him more loyally than before, you know, you absolutely know, the battle is over. Truth has been slain. Unreason rules the land. Authoritarianism is around the corner. We are doomed.

Nietzsche’s madman in Also Sprach Zarathustra said “God is dead and we have killed him.” That of course is not literally true. But I do know this: truth is dead and we have killed it. Dostoevsky’s Ivan in that great novel Brothers Karamazov added, “if God is dead all is permitted.” I would add: if truth is dead all is permitted.

The truth had better not be dead. If truth is dead we are dead.