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Welcome to the latest edition of the dystopian state of America.
For reporters in the extended White House press pool, Tuesday’s workday began just before nine a.m. when a junior member of the White House press staff announced over the loudspeaker that coronavirus testing would take place in the lower press offices.
The necessary nose swipes, performed with a cotton swab shovel and prompting tears or giggles, were done by 9:30 a.m., by which time the oppressive D.C. heat felt like a sweatsuit worn by an obese marathon runner. After being tested (a privilege relatively few have), members of the press pool were sent to wait in air-conditioned comfort in the West Wing basement.
Tuesday was a unique day at the White House—both press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and President Trump held briefings—that came on the heels of another unique weekend in the Trump administration: Federal troops were used in an American city in a way that would’ve made civil rights leaders like John Lewis (who passed away this weekend) cringe. The administration’s goal on Tuesday was clear enough: Defend the dystopia and dismiss, or at least deflect, criticism of the president.
McEnany, still honing her skills as an enthusiastic propagandist, is getting used to working in the soft clay of about 14 stalwart, worn out and browbeaten reporters who would probably rather be anywhere than at a briefing listening to her bullshit.
The president, who for the first three years of his administration avoided the Brady Briefing Room as if it were the source of the coronavirus pandemic, had not been seen in a briefing since April, when he suggested we all inject disinfectant to battle the virus. But he was back with a vengeance Tuesday, after his latest debacle with jackbooted troops.
The occupation of American cities run by Democrats or other people Trump doesn’t like has begun.
Last week federal police descended on Portland, Oregon, where camouflaged federal shock troops yanked peaceful protesters from the streets. Some called it kidnapping, or at least a violation of civil rights, but Trump said the feds were there to help. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler had a different view. He said using the troops is “a direct threat to our democracy.”
Trump has threatened to deploy these troops in other American cities.
“The tactics that the Trump administration are using on the streets of Portland are abhorrent,” the mayor told CNN. “People are being literally scooped off the street into unmarked vans, rental cars, apparently. They are being denied probable cause and they are denied due process.”
The occupation of American cities run by Democrats or other people Trump doesn’t like has begun. He certainly hasn’t answered for this move, any more than he has answered for his inability to deal with bounties placed on overseas members of the U.S. military.
Meanwhile, close to four million Americans have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, and more than 142,000 are dead as Trump continues to try to lie his way through a growing body count.
But Trump isn’t worried about that. His concern is Joe Biden and the Democrats. On Sunday, Trump tweeted Democrats “will destroy our Country as we know it.”
“Unimaginably bad things would happen to America” if he loses this fall, he said. “Look at Portland, where the pols are just fine with 50 days of anarchy. We sent in help. Look at New York, Chicago, Philadelphia. NO!”
Under the guise of protecting monuments and other government property, Trump is moving to solidify his control over the United States via any means available to him, constitutional or not. His goal is to intimidate and bully the republic into submission as a means to win an election in which some polls show him trailing presumptive Democratic challenger Joe Biden by a double-digit margin.
Trump’s reaction is to squeeze and let his sycophants defend him.
McEnany continued her tone-deaf defense of Trump at Tuesday’s briefing. She bragged about him being the “most tested” man in America—according to McEnany, the president is sometimes tested for coronavirus multiple times a day. This, at a time when many Americans can’t get a single test, and those who can may have to wait two weeks for results.
But bragging about presidential privilege wasn’t McEnany’s only sin. She defended federal troops grabbing citizens off the streets of Portland. Federal law enforcement officials didn’t necessarily need to identify themselves to crowds, she said, because “it would put them at great risk.”
The only people at risk are those who are swept up in unmarked vans and spirited away to some holding cell to be questioned and later released. The men dressed in fatigues sporting assault rifles and traveling in large numbers while driving unmarked vans are probably a little safer than your average citizen protester.
“Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster,” warned Neil Young in “Mr. Soul.” That speaks as clearly to the frustration of today’s protesters as it did to the protesters of the Vietnam war.
McEnany defends with gusto the actions of the president. In the White House narrative, all protesters are thugs who deface monuments, break windows and engage in unwarranted violence, and the president is the defender of justice.
But to protesters, Trump is as bad as Richard Nixon performing a sick trick of disaster on unarmed civilians.
The truth is, the protests I’ve covered in several cities during the past few months have mostly been peaceful. But even if they weren’t, what could justify the complete abandonment of the rule of law by law enforcement? Of course those who break the law are going to ignore the law. That’s what makes them lawbreakers. But when has that ever given those who are charged with enforcing our laws the right to break them too?
The nuance of that argument is lost on a president who brags about how often he is tested for coronavirus, despite having said the pandemic is a hoax and that too much testing leads to more cases. He sent camouflaged troops into an American city without any real justification so he can puff up his chest and prove his importance while contributing to the dystopia.
Trump exposed his privilege, his lack of understanding of the pandemic and his inability to understand the reality of the American people.
And thus Trump rode into the press briefing room Tuesday afternoon with contempt for Americans, the rule of law and his own fight against coronavirus.
Though Trump now says people should wear masks, he didn’t show any respect for the reporters in the briefing room by wearing one.
For about 10 minutes Trump rattled on about his great accomplishments in stemming coronavirus. Then he dropped a bombshell, admitting the pandemic is going to get worse in the U.S. before it gets better. However, he reassured us, he is now finally “developing a strategy that’s going to be very, very powerful.”
As usual, Trump took no responsibility for the mess (which he blamed on China) and said we may never fully understand the virus. Paradoxically, he also said he was confident of a vaccine soon. And, he said, he always supported social distancing and never fought against masks, even though in the past he called the pandemic a hoax and often told us how quickly it would all be okay. Poof. It will all “magically disappear.”
No experts accompanied Trump in the briefing room, but he claimed Dr. Deborah Birx was “right outside.” When asked whether he indeed was being tested more than once a day, Trump contradicted McEnany and said it was only two or three times a week. But twice a day? “I could see that happening,” he added.
For the millions of Americans who struggle to get tested, Trump’s statement was an almost subconscious admission of his privilege.
He simply has no idea of the reality of the situation. He never has.
He wouldn’t even answer my question about protesters’ civil rights being violated by federal officials in Portland. It doesn’t compute in The Donald’s fat, flaccid head.
Administration officials hoped the president would show up Tuesday and put to rest questions about his handling of coronavirus. He did the exact opposite. He exposed his privilege, his lack of understanding of the pandemic and his inability to understand the reality of the American people.
That lack of understanding drives the American dystopia. The United States is a heterogeneous country that does not fit neatly into Trump’s preconceived and simplistic notions, and as hard as he tries to fashion the world as he sees it, he ultimately fails. He doesn’t have all the answers. Hell, he doesn’t even know the questions. “Nurses and helpers have become incredibly good at the use of ventilators,” Trump reassured us. Does anyone in the White House understand how stupid Trump sounds?
We have the ability to end this in November. But if Donald Trump is reelected and we are subjected to four more years of his cognitive dissonance, the price of that dystopia will be the unraveling of America—a price many Americans don’t want to or cannot pay.