New Message: grateful and bi-partisan. He loves everybody, really.
Trump is re-calibrating. COVID gives him the opportunity.
A second, easily-reached thought on learning that Trump caught the virus is that Trump was hoist on his own petard. He had "played down" the virus, which meant the US had wider spread. He had mocked mask wearers and social distancing. He took risks. Karma boomerang.
A third meaning of the Trump-COVID connection is the meme suggested in this blog yesterday: Careless, callous COVID-spreader Trump. Yesterday afternoon Trump's campaign and various spokespeople attempted to sweep up the timeline mess. It is apparent that it had become obvious to the Trump team by Wednesday that Hope Hicks was infected, and therefore that Trump himself was highly exposed. He may have been showing symptoms himself. Still, they forged ahead with fundraisers in Wisconsin and New Jersey anyway, while pretending Trump was acting in ignorance. What did they know and when did they know it, and why did they persist in exposing donors, campaign staff, service staff at the events, and Secret Service?
A fourth meaning of Trump with COVID was Trump as Mr. Tough Guy, essentially a continuation of the single big message that he is strong and dominating. Sure he was a bit overbearing but that is the nature of successful, dominating leaders, the kind that get three Supreme Court justices onto the bench.
We saw something new on Saturday. A different Trump. It is a fig leaf to the White female voter who had taken a chance on him in 2016 but tell polls they are abandoning him for Biden. Trump is too Trump-ish, too divisive.
A fourth meaning of Trump with COVID was Trump as Mr. Tough Guy, essentially a continuation of the single big message that he is strong and dominating. Sure he was a bit overbearing but that is the nature of successful, dominating leaders, the kind that get three Supreme Court justices onto the bench.
We saw something new on Saturday. A different Trump. It is a fig leaf to the White female voter who had taken a chance on him in 2016 but tell polls they are abandoning him for Biden. Trump is too Trump-ish, too divisive.
It is best to watch a bit of this video to get the tone. It is like nothing Americans have seen. He is somber, contemplative. Trump doesn't appear to be in makeup. His hair is disheveled. He is tie-less.
He sounds grateful, not angry. He sounds like he knows he is lucky. He didn't attack anyone.
He spoke of bi-partisanship.
He called it the "coronavirus," not the "China virus."
He sounded empathetic. He said he is going through something others have gone through.
He spoke of the need to work cooperatively with other nations.
He said he felt the bi-partisan love of the entire American people, indeed people all over the world, and that he would not forget it.
This is not a total re-boot of Trump. Trump is Trump. He describes himself as among great leaders who join the front lines in battles, taking risks, getting the virus because he was working so hard to do the job of president. He is still grandiloquent, but he is somber about it.
This version of Trump attempts a positive way to understand Trump and COVID. Trump isn't the blustering king of the mountain or the super salesman. He has climbed onto the presidential cross, wounded, suffering, selflessly sacrificing his health in service to America. Grateful Trump, generous of spirit. We are all in this together. Trump the Unifier.
Here is a transcript:
“I want to begin by thanking all of the incredible medical professionals, the doctors, the nurses, everybody at Walter Reed Medical Center — I think it’s the finest in the world — for the incredible job they’ve been doing. I came here. I wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better now.
We’re working hard to get me back. I have to get all the way back because we still have to make America great again.
We’ve done an awfully good job of that but we still have steps to go and I have to finish that job. I’ll be back, I think, I’ll be back soon and I look forward to finishing up the campaign the way it was started, the way we’ve been doing and the kind of numbers we’ve been doing. We’ve been so proud of it.
But this was something that’s happened and it was something that happened to millions of people all over the world and I’ve been fighting for them, not just in the U.S., I’m fighting for them all over the world.
We’re going to beat the coronavirus, or whatever you want to call it, and we’re going to beat it soundly. So many things are happening, if you look at the therapeutics, which I’m taking right now some of them, and others that are coming out soon that are looking like, frankly they’re miracles, if you want to know the truth. They’re miracles.
People criticize me when I say that but we have things happening that look like they’re miracles coming down from God, so I just want to tell you that I’m starting to feel good. You don’t know the next period of a few days. I guess that’s the real test so we’ll be seeing what happened over those next couple of days.
I just want to be thankful for all the support I’ve seen whether it’s on television, or reading about it. I most of all I appreciate what’s been said by the American people, almost by a bipartisan consensus, by the American people. It’s a beautiful thing to see, and I very much appreciate it, and I won’t forget it. I promise you that.”
I also want to thank the leaders of the world for their condolences, and they know what we’re going through. They know as your leader what I have to go through. But I had no choice because I just didn’t want to stay in the White House. I was given that alternative: Stay in the White House, lock yourself in, don’t ever leave, don’t even go to the Oval Office, just stay upstairs and enjoy it. Don’t see people, don’t talk to people, and just be done with it, and I can’t do that.
I had to be out front and this is America, this is the United States. The greatest country in the world. This is the most powerful country in the world. I can’t be locked up in a room upstairs, totally safe and just say ‘Hey, whatever happens, happens’. I can’t do that. We have to confront problems. As a leader, you have to confront problems. There’s never been a great leader that would have done that.
So that’s where it is. I’m doing well. I want to thank everybody. Our first lady is doing very well. Melania asked me to say something as to the respect that she has for our country, the love that she has for our country, and we’re both doing well. Melania is really handling it very nicely. As you’ve probably read, she is slightly younger than me, just a little tiny bit.
And therefore, we know the disease, we know the situation with age versus younger people and Melania is handling it statistically like it’s supposed to be handled, and that makes me very happy and it makes the country very happy. But I’m also doing well, and I think we’re going to have a very good result.
Again, over the next few days we’re going to probably know for sure, so I just want to thank everybody out there, everybody, all over the world, specifically the United States. The outpouring of love has been incredible. I will never forget. Thank you very much.”
He spoke of bi-partisanship.
He called it the "coronavirus," not the "China virus."
He sounded empathetic. He said he is going through something others have gone through.
He spoke of the need to work cooperatively with other nations.
He said he felt the bi-partisan love of the entire American people, indeed people all over the world, and that he would not forget it.
This is not a total re-boot of Trump. Trump is Trump. He describes himself as among great leaders who join the front lines in battles, taking risks, getting the virus because he was working so hard to do the job of president. He is still grandiloquent, but he is somber about it.
This version of Trump attempts a positive way to understand Trump and COVID. Trump isn't the blustering king of the mountain or the super salesman. He has climbed onto the presidential cross, wounded, suffering, selflessly sacrificing his health in service to America. Grateful Trump, generous of spirit. We are all in this together. Trump the Unifier.
Here is a transcript:
“I want to begin by thanking all of the incredible medical professionals, the doctors, the nurses, everybody at Walter Reed Medical Center — I think it’s the finest in the world — for the incredible job they’ve been doing. I came here. I wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better now.
We’re working hard to get me back. I have to get all the way back because we still have to make America great again.
We’ve done an awfully good job of that but we still have steps to go and I have to finish that job. I’ll be back, I think, I’ll be back soon and I look forward to finishing up the campaign the way it was started, the way we’ve been doing and the kind of numbers we’ve been doing. We’ve been so proud of it.
But this was something that’s happened and it was something that happened to millions of people all over the world and I’ve been fighting for them, not just in the U.S., I’m fighting for them all over the world.
We’re going to beat the coronavirus, or whatever you want to call it, and we’re going to beat it soundly. So many things are happening, if you look at the therapeutics, which I’m taking right now some of them, and others that are coming out soon that are looking like, frankly they’re miracles, if you want to know the truth. They’re miracles.
People criticize me when I say that but we have things happening that look like they’re miracles coming down from God, so I just want to tell you that I’m starting to feel good. You don’t know the next period of a few days. I guess that’s the real test so we’ll be seeing what happened over those next couple of days.
I just want to be thankful for all the support I’ve seen whether it’s on television, or reading about it. I most of all I appreciate what’s been said by the American people, almost by a bipartisan consensus, by the American people. It’s a beautiful thing to see, and I very much appreciate it, and I won’t forget it. I promise you that.”
I also want to thank the leaders of the world for their condolences, and they know what we’re going through. They know as your leader what I have to go through. But I had no choice because I just didn’t want to stay in the White House. I was given that alternative: Stay in the White House, lock yourself in, don’t ever leave, don’t even go to the Oval Office, just stay upstairs and enjoy it. Don’t see people, don’t talk to people, and just be done with it, and I can’t do that.
I had to be out front and this is America, this is the United States. The greatest country in the world. This is the most powerful country in the world. I can’t be locked up in a room upstairs, totally safe and just say ‘Hey, whatever happens, happens’. I can’t do that. We have to confront problems. As a leader, you have to confront problems. There’s never been a great leader that would have done that.
So that’s where it is. I’m doing well. I want to thank everybody. Our first lady is doing very well. Melania asked me to say something as to the respect that she has for our country, the love that she has for our country, and we’re both doing well. Melania is really handling it very nicely. As you’ve probably read, she is slightly younger than me, just a little tiny bit.
And therefore, we know the disease, we know the situation with age versus younger people and Melania is handling it statistically like it’s supposed to be handled, and that makes me very happy and it makes the country very happy. But I’m also doing well, and I think we’re going to have a very good result.
Again, over the next few days we’re going to probably know for sure, so I just want to thank everybody out there, everybody, all over the world, specifically the United States. The outpouring of love has been incredible. I will never forget. Thank you very much.”
6 comments:
It’s his only chance to get elected. He has to say he was wrong, everyone should wear a mask, that a true patriot would wear a mask. If he did the true coming to Jesus turnaround it might work. Admitting he was wrong would be unlike him, but the smart play. I hope America doesn’t fall for the new act if he chooses it, but they might.
“I had to be out front.” (I am a war time President and I’m leading fearlessly from the front lines.)
“There’s never been a great leader that would have done that.” (I am the greatest leader of all time.)
Yeah, right. This re-run is getting old. What else is on?
You're kidding. He's following Twitter and doing damage control.
He knows there is an enormous amount of ill will being expressed and since we are parsing the speech he did not say "entire" American people. The inference is that only well-wishers are true Americans.
We do have a convention in our culture that illness is undeserved, which I imagine goes back to pre modern medicine and prevention. It's considered gauche to say "I told you so", particularly from politicians, even in the most extreme situations.
"Get Well Soon" is a sentiment used to express sympathy, and is often used insincerely, along with "Have a Nice Day" and "Those Jeans Look Great On You".
After all if we don't express sympathy, we shouldn't expect it should we?
“Trump Reaffirms the Science of Covid-19”
“OMG, Trump is in the hospital, that is what happens when you don’t wear a mask, put it on now!” Nope. Testing positive has apparently caused no one to put on a mask. Why? Because everybody knows we might get infected one of these days, but that for 98% of us, life will have a two week bump, and then back to normal.
Guess why people still aren’t afraid of the virus even with the President in the hospital? Answer: “science”. We worship science don’t we? Yes, the most sacred word in the Democratic lexicon—science—tells us that almost none of us have anything to worry about in testing positive. We see Trump on tv at the hospital. He looks just a little under the weather. Trump says he will soldier on, God willing, but uses White House anonymous spokesperson (at first but later identified as the whispering Chief of Staff) to say “we were concerned, OMG touch’n-go, but wait, he rises from his bed, what a leader!”
That’s psychology, you know, another kind of “science”. This science tells us that compassion, support the leader no matter what, and people of good will are likely to wish Trump well. Especially, suburban white women, especially church going blacks and Hispanics, indeed everyone except the nasty hope-you-almost-die left that no one wants to be associated with. Yes, Trump is now “the Gipper”. Tell you grandkids about Ronald Reagan, the Gipper, after being shot with a pistol, “he got what he deserved” because he opposed gun control. The Gipper, he was from Notre Dame, just like Amy Coney Barrett. No one wanted to be associated with the nasty left when the Gipper got shot. Only emotionally maladjusted people want to be part of “The Public-Shaming Pandemic”, The New Yorker (Sept 21, 2020). There is a name for he-got-what-he-deserved illness-- Trump Derangement Syndrome can make us vicious.
Back to the boardwalk today in Palm Beach, I saw three masks out of several hundred people. I saw one mask (a waitress) at the every-seat-filled outdoor brunch spot, no more distancing between tables required in Florida. People believe they have a 1 in 1000 chance of an infection outdoors. Amy Coney Barrett nomination was outdoors at the White House. Like Palm Beach Democrats, they did not wear masks, they were outdoors. There were over 150 special guests and scores of other attendees. Only 8 people, all VIPs who attended the indoor portions and indoor celebration the night before, have tested positive and the Washington Post has dug hard for as many infected people as possible, since Covid-19 is also a political pandemic. See “Rose Garden Ceremony Attendees Who Tested Positive for Coronavirus”, Washington Post (Oct. 4, 2020, in the “Politics” section). We can only hope for more sick people than eight, right?
So why aren’t Democrats wearing masks outdoors, why are they going to restaurants in our Florida stronghold? Science that’s why. Science does not support our Covid-19 narrative like we hoped it would. Our University of Washington at Seattle model predicted on May 18, 2020 that we would likely have 500,000 to 1.2 million dead by December 31. But so far, counting every conceivable death as virus related (a combined medical and political exercise) we have only 210,000. Now we have dropped to only 710 new dead daily and still falling. Unless we get a lot more politically creative on death tolls (like we did in Vietnam), we have almost no chance of getting to the low model number.
Why didn’t everyone wear a mask at the outdoor Barrett nomination? Science and statistical probability. What are the chances Trump will be back at the White House this week and out of danger. Very good chances indeed. Even the promise of 74 and fat may fail us.
Posted for John Coster
That’s a bit tricky David. From Woodward’s transcripts we know Trump wasn’t mistaken. He knew the threat all along and CHOSE to model and promote reckless behavior, betting it wouldn’t bite him; In fact it was his brand. 209,000 deaths “is what it is” until he and his tribe start to get it. Now GOP senators are getting it and... one wonders how this will work out for the Barrett hearings. Every day a new twist.
John Coster
Trump sells. More die. He waves to his followers as he gives his chauffeur the kiss of death.
The hoax carries on. His Doctors spin. Can’t remember the Oath. Or the medical chart.
Step up. Get a ticket to the sideshow tent. See the President dress in a suit, comb his hair , and ooze empathy.
The Proud Boys are arming and standing by.
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