Inevitably one has mixed feelings. Trump has done many things I have hated, notably undermining the whole concept of democracy. I must confess I've hated him for that. To the point where I hoped he would experience deep humiliation since humiliation seemed the only thing that would get through.
But did I hate him enough to wish this on him? Tell the truth, it never occurred to me. Fatalistically - and very ironically - I shared his own superman view of himself; that somehow his flouting not just of medical recommendations but of basic common sense would see him through.
But now I hear there've been undercurrents. That the situation was known within the White House before the public announcement was made. That many people - maskless and otherwise unprotected - may have come into contact. That several White House staff have subsequently tested positive, including Kellyanne, the spokesperson.
If that's true it's not just irresponsible, it's criminal. There are laws. And one has to say, adding in the tax revelations and the mad debate, there's a kind of Jovian Götterdämmerung endgame going on at the moment. But without Wagner's music.
Hatred? Yeah, I know it's childish but...
I have, to my own surprise, had similar feelings for what is going on over here.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh: But I was looking forward to seeing him in court, perhaps declaring himself bankrupt for the nty-nth time.
DeleteI think that "schadenfreude" covers it, RR.
ReplyDeleteAvus: Not quite. Medical people will have to risk their lives saving his worthless hide. Some may even die, as they did in the UK.
DeleteOur own legislators flout their own rules as if they don't apply to them too. When they banned smoking in pubs, they continued to smoke in the House of Commons bar. When they told all bars to close at 10.00 or face a £1,200 fine, theirs stayed open all night until some spoil sport complained. And then there is the driving to test your eyesight and the SNP minister's journey on public transport having tested positive for COVID and showing symptoms - all criminal behaviour. Trump should have been ousted years ago.
ReplyDeleteTom: I write fiction as you know; irony is a very useful plot contrivance. But true irony needs a degree a subtlety and this development is about as subtle as Trump's ravings during the debate. If I were honest - more honest than I was in the post - I should have said said the news irritated me, in fictional terms it was was aesthetically crude. I dropped a short-email to a notably acidic friend of mine in the USA suggesting a better variant would have been that Trump had not been infected, had gone to the Walter Reed pretending to be ill, that everyone in the hospital and the White House had been sworn to secrecy, and that Trump had emerged two days later, more orange than before, saying "I told you so; Covid is a hoax." An act of true desperation
DeleteMy friend beat me hands down with this: I predict an emergency summit in Moscow from which he never returns.
Events in the UK are merely the corrupting result of having an 80-seat majority in the HoC. Desperately The Guardian pushes out stories about angered back-benchers but nothing happens. I think BJ justifies his behaviour on the grounds that a glancing knowledge of the classics is worth the price of being incompetent in practical matters. A bit of a giggle really.
I have often thought of my mother's favourite phrase -- "Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!" Had she lived into these times, she would no doubt have used it often. I am my mother's daughter, and I say, "what goes around comes around." Best case scenario? Trumpus meets his greatest fear and becomes a better decision-maker in the end ... worst case scenario? He really does have a mild case and believes he is a godling.
ReplyDeleteZu Schwer: And people start arriving on camels bringing him gift-wrapped parcels of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
DeleteOch, no comment. I'm going into the kitchen to pour a quality ale into my pint glass ...
DeleteZu Schwer: Is that all? Are you inviting me round to drink it?
DeleteYou have a standing invitation, lieber Robbie!!!
DeleteThis AM, the news posted some footage of the Supreme Court Justice nomination in the Rose Garden. Not just the actual announcement, but the casual socializing which occurred during the middle of the pandemic. All the 'tested' guests intermingled, mask-less, that have now tested positive. The latest being Christie. I have always disliked TRUMP, for over 40 years,...but nearly all the entire 150 Republican people at this event totally disregarded the health recommendations without masks, and sadly have put our entire government at risk. The pompous solidarity within this regime of stupidity says more about party politics than anything else. I do appreciate an across the pond view, as everyone in the world, must simply shake their heads at our 'Götterdämmerung'. Loved that reference, Sandra
ReplyDeleteSandra: Welcome to Tone Deaf. A widow of my acquaintance was said to have burst into tears when the wrecker's ball started swinging in Valhalla. Rather missing the point, I thought, given that the three operas preceding Twilight provided ample evidence that the gods were a load of shits and deserved what they got.
ReplyDeleteMy post was quickly outdated by the passage of time and I have subsequently seen the YouTube clips of Republican and White House carelessness. One significant point has arisen: the Constitution doesn't allow for a shameless and monomaniacal incumbent like DT. But modifying it in such a partisan environment as presently exists will be a delicate matter. As I left the USA after a six-year stint Watergate was just beginning to crank up. Contrasted with DTGate, those events have almost an aristocratic feel to them. I mean the Dark-Jowelled-One actually resigned. We must wait in hope.
Um, I never liked the Dark-Jowled one either, your reference made me laugh, and he didn't resign soon enough. We cringed and suffered through all the ramifications of that debacle...and yet we, as a nation, do not learn. History can be such a fine teacher, be it a hell-bent opera, boring classes, or distorted historical fiction on the television. My BF is a Kiwi, who just became a citizen here. At least she will be an additional vote for sanity.
DeleteSandi: The US is big, very big. It isn't often the whole country (which I tend to think of as a sub-continent rather than a mere country) is significantly influenced by events outside its shores. Also the independence of the states has to be factored in. Even FDR had to struggle with the New Deal though it was the only way out of the Depression - I love the fact that Wall Street denounced him as "a traitor to his class" which to me sounds terribly English.
DeleteMy wife and I have visited NZ three times when we could still stand taking long flights. Tell your BF one of the reasons for returning was to see again the most beautiful place in the world, the sort of fjord which contains Port Underwood. I asked a resident there - an American who, along with his US wife, had become naturalised Kiwis - that the trouble with NZ is too many places qualify for this "most beautful" award. Wasn't there any ugliness? (The criterion I had mind were the banks of the Hackensack River) He thought for a moment then said, "Try the outskirts of Hamilton". See if your BF agrees.
Ah, she grew up in Hamilton, and actually we were going to visit her Mum this year, but not since Covid. She has sister/sister-in-law(a Scott) in Denver, who have been here for Thanksgiving as has her Mum. I can't wait to visit NZ...as soon as I can. The US is very fortunate to have the three of them here...working in the US, and I am happy for their 'sanity' votes and their friendship. I do believe if the orange menace actually wins or manacles himself to the WHouse staircase, I would consider NZ as a new home, sight unseen. LOL.
DeleteNo mixed feelings here!
ReplyDeleteHe deserves to have a really bad dose of it. It's about time.
Jean (in the upsized French house): I did change my opinion afterwards. Said I wanted to see him humiliated in a court of law; sans belt so that his trousers kept falling down.
ReplyDeleteTweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are both fools, but what saddens me the most is that enough people voted them into positions of power in the first place. It is truly offensive that Trump receives excessive medical treatment while at the same time his government is trying to take away medical rights from the general public. I hope it swings the vote!
ReplyDeleteGarden: I had an extended metaphor about boils (the yellow-headed sort) and Trump but the associated vocabulary was just too sickening. You'll have to take it as read.
ReplyDelete